Covina Farms

Formerly located at 731 North Grand Avenue on the northwest corner with Edna Place, Covina Farms was a shopping staple for many local families for over a quarter century. It began as an open-air produce and meat market in August, 1955,¹ and expanded to a full-service grocery in September of 1956.² Long-time owners Ray and Sumiko Okura bought the store in November, 1957.³

My mom loved Covina Farms. She got all our meats there. Not only did they have the best quality in town, their butcher shop had lockers you could rent, then buy meat in bulk and store it in their deep freeze. The fresh fruit and vegetables couldn't be beat, either. My favorite part was the big newsstand where I'd read a Mad magazine or comic book while Mom shopped.

Mr. Okura passed away in February, 1977,⁴ and although I'm speculating here, that could have been what set in motion the eventual end of Covina Farms in July, 1981.⁵ Only a few short months later, Blake Paper Co. took over at 731 N. Grand⁶ and ran a successful business out of that location for many more years. The old building was finally torn down in 2013.⁷ A new Circle K store, gas station and car wash were constructed on the site and opened in 2021.⁷

I wish I had a picture of Covina Farms, but the best I can do is show you this old shopping bag that I found when I was closing up my parents' house in Covina in 1988. (Mom was quite the packrat.) It's the only memento I have of the friendly little local market where we shopped probably more times than any other.

References:

¹ Covina Argus-Citizen, August 11, 1955, p.3.
² Covina Argus-Citizen, September 13, 1956, p.31.
³ Covina Argus-Citizen, October 31, 1957, p.28.
⁴ Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1977, p.24.
⁵ Los Angeles Times, July 16, 1981, p.207.
⁶ Los Angeles Times, April 25, 1982, p.617.
⁷ Posted comments by Covina residents in the "I Grew Up in Covina" Facebook group.

 

 

Covina in the Aughts

Citrus Avenue again, only this time about a half-century earlier. This photo was fairly easy to date, and very precisely, too.

Looking north on Citrus Avenue from Badillo Street, Covina, January, 1907. Clarence Tucker, photographer.
Click on the image to view an enlargement. Photo courtesy Covina Valley Historical Society and Powell Camera Shop (RIP).

Even before looking anything up, on the basis of a past search, I knew this picture had to be taken between 1903-1909 due to the presence of Franz Richter's bicycle repair shop in the far distance near Citrus's intersection with College. But, the obvious clincher was the banner hanging over the middle of the street. It reads:

Citrus Avenue in the Fifties

Here we have two nice, detailed mid-century views of Covina's busy Citrus Avenue. The photos are undated, but examining certain clues, I think I can come up with some pretty good educated guesses as to when they were taken.

In this first one, the newest car I see is that 1952 Ford Convertible just left of center. That model was introduced in Fall, 1951. However, the photo has to have been taken later than September, 1952, because that's when Faye's Maternity Shop to the left of the Ford opened at 111 North Citrus,¹ and that place does look essentially brand new here. So, 1952 seems like a safe bet for this view.

Looking north on Citrus Avenue from Badillo Street, Covina, 1952.
Click on the image to view an enlargement. Photo courtesy Covina Valley Historical Society and Powell Camera Shop (RIP).

(As an aside, I like how several kids evidently felt comfortable leaving their bikes parked on the street while they went to a show at the theater.)

Old Neighbor Remembers

I'll be frank—I don't generally care for oral histories. Reason being, people's memories of past events tend to be embellished or even just plain mistaken; my own being no exception. However, every once in a while, I chance upon an oral account that's really interesting and even compelling in its particulars, and this one—published for the city's 51st anniversary commemoration—is one I believe worthy of historical preservation, in spite of its anonymous authorship. So, with no further ado...

From the Covina Argus of October 18, 1935:

The Hollenbeck Palms

Recently, I added this very early C. W. Tucker photo postcard to my Covina ephemera collection.

Click on the image above to view a clean enlargement.

Although the view looks very different today, and the palms are way taller now, I doubt someone who grew up in Covina would have too much difficulty recognizing where this picture was taken.

But, just in case not, we are looking north on Hollenbeck Avenue from only a few feet north of its intersection with Badillo Street.

And the year? Well, let's play history detective and see what we can come up with!

Italia

You're about to make the acquaintance of a remarkable woman who, as you'll see, merits a far more prominent place in Covina history than the mere footnotes she's been relegated to in the past...

As has often been the case, my initial inspiration for an article was a postcard. This particular specimen first attracted my interest because of the handwritten inscription indicating the house owned by Mr. Clapp, the druggist, from whose store came this antique medicine bottle: the subject of one of my earliest posts here.

View looking southwest along the west side of the 200 block of North Second Street, Covina, c.1908. "Rose" mailed this hand-colored M. Rieder postcard from Lordsburg (La Verne) on January 2, 1908. Click image to view an enlargement.

The Clapps were an important family in early Covina, and I'll have more to say about them later, but the actual main character in my present story is Mrs. Clapp's mother—Mrs. Italia Cook—who lived in the big house at far right.

The published histories barely mention Italia, but she was easily the most propertied and most philanthropic woman in Covina at the turn of the last century, and now here, at long last, this pioneer-era force of nature is going to get the full recognition she's due.

"The Man Who Built Covina"

He died the same day as the famous singer Lark Ellen, and his death announcement was set right next to hers headlining the front page of the town paper. In his time, he was lauded as "the man who built Covina,"¹ but his name—and most of his life's work—was subsequently lost to history.

Edward Aaron Hubbard was born in Fairfield, Illinois, on June 2, 1880. He initially plied his building trade in Lyons, Kansas, before coming to Covina in 1922.¹ Not long after setting up shop here, he was commissioned to construct his first and most enduring commercial edifice: the bank building on the northeast corner of Citrus and College that's been a downtown landmark for many generations of Covinans.

The new home of the First National Bank of Covina opened for business in March, 1924.²
Photo courtesy Covina Valley Historical Society.

Plaza Progress

Something more recent for a change!

The regional indoor shopping mall known today as Plaza West Covina is a half-century old this year. Originally called West Covina Fashion Plaza, its grand opening took place September 25, 1975.¹

A couple weeks ago, I discovered a newly-available series of aerial photos on the UCSB Geospatial Collection website which appears to have been taken to document the yearly progress of the BKK landfill in the San Jose Hills. Far up near the top edges of these photos, however, were glimpses of the main West Covina shopping center which is the subject of this article, and they visually document in detail how the Plaza under its various names has evolved over time.

All photos courtesy of UCSB Geospatial Collection; captions and credits below. Click on the image above to view an enlargement.

1973: The last year of the original West Covina Plaza shopping center, which first opened in October, 1956.²

1974: Construction of the new indoor mall.³

1975: The completed West Covina Fashion Plaza.⁴ The west wing of the old Plaza was demolished, temporarily sparing the building formerly occupied by J. C. Penney.

1977, 1992: The east wing of the old Plaza was kept open for business until its demolition commenced in Fall, 1991.^5,6

1995: This configuration has remained relatively unchanged to the present day,⁷ except that the building formerly occupied by Tower Records and Desmond's before that was demolished in 2009.

More dates, photos and factoids below!

Post-War Postcard

Time for another episode of vintage Covina photo sleuthing! Got ahold of another uncommon postcard of Citrus Avenue recently for which I hoped to pinpoint a date.

Post-war view north on Citrus Avenue from its intersection with Center Street.
Click on image for a larger view.

It's unused, so there's no postmark to give us a ballpark estimate. Just eyeballing the cars, though, I could tell it was from the Forties, but when, exactly?

Citrus Avenue, 1938

Looking north on Citrus Avenue...

...from Workman Avenue:

...from Badillo Street:

...and from College Street:

The 200 block of North Citrus was the grocery and retail center of Covina in 1938, with Safeway, Alpha Beta and Cornet on the west side and J. J. Newberry adjoining Bank of America across the street.

But when?

Custer's

It was a household name to just about everybody who lived, worked or grew up in Covina in the latter half of the 20th century, but the story behind the store and its familiar landmark location has largely been lost to history.

It all started with Reginald F. Buller (1840-1913):¹ a banker and former state senator from Idaho who retired to southern California in 1908.² Although he initially intended to settle in Covina, his only enduring contribution to the city turned out to be the erection of a business block at 126 N. Citrus Avenue: the address of the gift shop known to later generations of Covinans as "Custer's."

The Buller block was still as-built with its crowning cornice when this photo was taken in 1925.
Click image for an enlargement.

Buller bought the land for his planned 2-storey commercial structure in May, 1908.³ The parcel was originally the site of the 1891 Warner Brothers grocery,⁴ and its successor company would become the new building's primary tenant. Pioneer contractor Clarence Allison constructed the Buller block in early 1909,^5,6 and Warner, Whitsel & Co. opened their new store to great local fanfare that June.⁴

The Warner, Whitsel & Co. grocery store in the Buller Building (left) c.1910.

Only ten years later, however, Warner-Whitsel announced it had been unable to renew its lease with Buller's estate, so the grocery moved two doors south to the Webb Building at 118 N. Citrus.⁷ Thenceforth, from 1921 until after the Second World War, the Buller Building would be occupied by a series of furniture stores: Gillett's (1921),⁸ Trippel's (1922),⁹ Scofield's (1928)¹⁰ and Sawyer's (1936).¹¹

Meanwhile, on September 7, 1909, just up the street at 142 N. Citrus,¹² a Mr. J. H. Shafe opened the book and stationery store that would eventually become Custer's.¹³ In 1911, it changed hands and its name to the Covina Book Store,¹⁴ and then again in 1921 to the Covina Book and Art Shop.¹⁵ Under that name, it passed through a series of owners until 1928 when it was bought by Clyde C. Custer (1899-1955),¹⁶ son of pioneer undertaker William Q. Custer (1860-1936).¹⁷

After Warner, Whitsel & Co. closed for good in 1928,¹⁸ Clyde Custer moved the Covina Book and Art Shop into the grocery's former space at 118 N. Citrus.¹⁹ Then, in February, 1945, he bought 126 N. Citrus,²⁰ and moved his business there in the second week of March, 1946, renaming it Custer's Gift and Stationery Store.²¹ After Mr. Custer died in 1955,²² it continued to be operated under the family name well into the early 21st century.

Custer's Gift & Office Supply, 1960.²³

Fast forward into the future...

Photo Sleuthing

Whenever I find a picture of old Covina that I've never seen before–like this one from a postcard–I enjoy trying to figure out exactly when it was taken.

Looking north on Citrus Avenue from its intersection with Badillo Street. The original canopy of the Covina Theatre can be seen at right.
Click on image for a larger view.

Just eyeballing the cars and the star-spangled bunting hanging over Citrus, my first thought was the photo might be from a 4th of July in the late 1920s. The postcard was mailed April 28, 1930, so obviously the photo couldn't have been taken any later than that.

I also recognized signage seen in this earlier post showing Citrus Avenue in the mid-Twenties (below)–in particular the McPeake cigar sign at 125 N Citrus–so I knew I had to be looking at sometime between 1925-1929.

North Citrus Avenue in 1925.

Looking more closely, I noticed a distinctive roof line, just barely visible in the distance. Known as the Logan-Stead Building in my day, this was the earliest view of Citrus I could remember seeing it there.

So when was it built? Searching the online archives of the Covina Argus, I found out that site-clearing for what was originally known as the Oddfellows Building had commenced in July, 1929,¹ so that ruled out Independence Day of that year. Then I thought it might be Armistice Day–what we now call Veterans Day–but that didn't become a national holiday until 1938. So if it wasn't July 4th or Armistice Day, why all the patriotic decorations?

This called for a much closer look. Examining my 1200dpi scan, I could make out some diagonal LETTERS near the top of the center banner:

A-ha! Seeing "DEDICATION" there brought to mind one of the first photos of old Covina that I ever added to my digital collection, also of that same building:

No date on it, but it clearly shows the dedication ceremony of the new Oddfellows Building, and there, strung across Citrus, can be seen banners identical to those in the original postcard photo!

So now I feel virtually certain that my mystery picture was taken during the first week of December, 1929, immediately prior to the official opening of the Oddfellows Building on December 7:² 94 years ago today.

Covina Argus, November 29, 1929.

Some additional history on this once-important downtown edifice.

The Oddfellows Building was purchased by Thomas P. Logan and Sam Stead in 1941.³ For many years thereafter, it housed Logan Hardware and several other retail businesses, and was a meeting place for a number of fraternal organizations and service clubs.

The Logan-Stead Building in the mid-Sixties. Source: Facebook, I Grew Up In Covina; photographer unknown.

In its final years, the structure fell into disrepair and was ultimately abandoned. It was destroyed by arson and the site cleared in the early Nineties.⁴

The northeast corner of Citrus and Italia today:

Photo by J Scott Shannon, March 20, 2023.

I really must apologize for the long hiatus. There were so many things I had in mind to write about Covina history this year, but the business of life has kept me almost continuously occupied. I hope to do better in 2024.

References:

¹ Covina Argus, July 12, 1929, p.1.
² Covina Argus, November 29, 1929, p.1.
³ Covina Argus-Citizen, November 29, 1946, p.1.
⁴ Bob Findley on the "I Grew Up In Covina" Facebook group.
Newspaper clipping courtesy Newspapers.com.

 

Covina Present

Because I live 700 miles away, I don't get to visit Covina very often. Last week, however, I was in L.A. for some eye appointments, and while in the area I spent an afternoon driving and walking around my old home town.

The last time I was here, Citrus Avenue had been transformed into an outdoor dining area which shall we say was not exactly conducive to sightseeing. So I was pleased to now see that the main street had returned to normal; or at least normal for Covina in this day and age.

All photos © J Scott Shannon.

Eastland in 1960

To bookend Randall Smith's post on Eastland's 3-day Grand Opening (which ended 65 years ago tonight), I present this pair of previously unknown photos that I acquired just this past week.

Eastland Shopping Center, West Covina, California, June, 1960. Click image to enlarge. Photo copyright © J Scott Shannon.

Eastland was once the showpiece gateway to the San Gabriel Valley, as this impressive view attests. Coming down off Kellogg Hill heading toward L.A., the flagship May Co. building in particular was a bold visual announcement to every commuter and traveler that they had arrived in a great American metropolis. By contrast, Eastland Center today is a pale postmodern shadow of its former self, notably lacking the grand scale and aesthetic appeal of its original incarnation.

The Paul Cummins Huddle Restaurant, West Covina, California, June, 1960. Click image to enlarge. Photo copyright © J Scott Shannon.

This photo of the Huddle Restaurant is special because, to the best of my knowledge, it's the only known view of the rear of this lost Googie treasure. (The front was previously featured here.)

Sources:

 

Eastland at 65

...by guest author Randall Smith

65 years ago today . . .
Eastland Shopping Center officially opened its doors to the public, on Thursday, October 24, 1957, with a Grand Opening gala celebration. Emceed by KTTV on-air personality, Bill Walsh, the celebratory activities occurred over a three-day period.

Original advertisement for Eastland’s grand opening. Pasadena Independent, Thursday, October 24, 1957.

Detail: Eastland's fifty-one original tenants.

Aerial photograph of Eastland Shopping Center on September 19, 1957, just three days after the May Co. grand opening. Just a few of the mall shops were open at this time, while interior build-outs were still being completed at most of the tenant storefronts. Note that the iconic “M” has yet to be installed on the sign structure on top of the May Co. building. Photo courtesy Los Angeles Public Library.

Old City Hall on Citrus

Another rare view of downtown Covina, this one from December, 1924-January, 1925. The vantage point is the roof of the Finch Building at 113 N. Citrus, looking northeast. Easy to tell it's wintertime, with new snow in the mountains. The date range can be deduced by the car license plates: about half of which are in the style of 1925 and the other half appear to be 1924, so it's probably close to the end of the year when plates would be in transition. It's also likely a weekday, as a customer can be seen exiting the First National Bank building on the northeast corner of Citrus and College, which opened in 1924.

North Citrus Avenue in Winter, 1925. Photographer unknown, but likely C. W. Tucker. Click image to enlarge.

Probably the most interesting detail in this photo is the lettering in the window of the storefront two doors up from the furniture store. It reads "COVINA CITY HALL." Check out the closeup below.

The pre-1930 Covina City Hall at 132 N. Citrus.

I'd always wondered where city hall was located before the "new" one opened in January, 1930,¹ and now I know!

Another noteworthy detail in this photo is the closeup of the Finch Brothers street clock. Apparently its original face used IIII for the 4, while the one now has IV. The rest of the old downtown landmark has remained unchanged since it was erected in 1916.²

References:

¹ Covina Argus, January 24, 1930, p.1.
² Pflueger, D. H. 1964. Covina: Sunflowers, Citrus, Subdivisions. Castle Press, Pasadena, California, 372pp.

 

Old Covina Glass

I know I said a while back that I was done collecting Covina antiques, but bottles were one of my earliest specialties, and I simply can't resist temptation when it comes to old Covina glass.

So, given that affinity, what would a local history nut like me most like to acquire? A Covina orange juice bottle, of course! You might think they'd be relatively common, but it's taken me forever just to find one. And here it is: a beautiful, like-new half gallon juice bottle from the Damerel-Allison Company of Covina that dates from 1946-1950.

Photos by Jose Lomeli.

A case could be made that Damerel-Allison invented bottled orange juice. Founded in 1901, D-A pioneered storage and refrigeration techniques that made it possible to reliably mass produce orange and other fruit juices for the regional consumer market. D-A also achieved market advantage by controlling its entire supply and distribution chain all the way from the grove to the grocer's shelf. After WWII, Damarel-Allison opened the largest and most thoroughly automated frozen juice concentrate facility in the United States. In 1950, D-A was acquired by a division of the California Fruit Growers Exchange, whose consumer products brand name was... Vita-Pakt! Under that name, the company would remain a staple of Covina's economy for another half-century.

Covina Souvenir Spoon

I recently acquired this Sterling silver souvenir spoon, hand-engraved with 'Covina CAL' on the bowl. I'm told it dates to the 1910s.

If it is from that period, it might very well have been bought at The Peoples Store on Citrus. This is exactly the kind of knickknack they sold. Clapp's Pharmacy is another possibility. Both carried souvenirs and curios in addition to their regular goods.

"The Peoples Store" can be seen over at the far left edge.

I was really happy to find the spoon. I saw one just like it 10+ years ago but failed to score it. I think my Covina antique collection is complete now. This was kind of the Holy Grail for me.

 

The Finch Clock

The big clock in downtown Covina is 100 years old this month!

Here's its story from Donald Pfleuger's 1964 history of Covina.

To the delight of all, the Finch Brothers Jewelry Store installed an enormous street clock in April, 1916. Weighing fifteen hundred pounds and bearing a double dial which could be read two blocks away in either direction, the enormous clock, lighted at night, became a city landmark for generations to come. It supposedly kept time without varying more than fifteen seconds in a month. Before the age of radio, people coming into town always set their watches by this famous timepiece.

Although a source of civic pride for decades, the clock was in pretty bad shape by the '70s. For several years, it didn't run at all. I don't remember exactly when it was "restored," but I seem to recall it was in the early '80s while I was still living in Covina. Anyway, I was glad that they got it running again, but was disappointed that they replaced the original face and hands with ones that weren't authentic to its period. Looking at the clock today, it might come as a surprise to some that it is as old as it really is.

The Finch clock in 2009.

Photo © J Scott Shannon

Does anyone have a photo of it back in the earlier 20th century? It would be especially cool to see a picture of the clock lighted up like Pflueger said it used to be!

 

Covina History Timeline

Although I've been interested in my home town's history for decades now, I still get confused sometimes about what happened when. So, I finally decided to make a list of as many significant events as I could think of, and put them all in chronological order. I must say, I wish I'd done this a long time ago! It makes things much easier to place in context and remember.

Much of the information presented here is gleaned from Donald H. Pflueger's "Covina: Sunflowers, Citrus, Subdivisions" (1964), and Dr. Barbara Ann Hall's "Images of America: Covina," (2007). Online resources include the Digital Archives of the Covina Public Library, Newspapers.com, the California Digital Newspaper Collection, the West Covina Historical Milestones webpage, and personal communications with fellow Covina-area historians Glenn Reed (to whose memory this work is dedicated), Randall Smith, Tom Armbruster, Jim Harris and Michael Schoenholtz. Other references are provided in links, and citations for specific entries are available upon request. Please bear in mind: this timeline is an ongoing work in progress. Corrections, additions, and their supporting documentation are always welcome.

July 30, 1769 – Explorers led by Gaspar de Portolá are the first Europeans to set foot in today's San Gabriel Valley. To cross a boggy creek, they construct a makeshift bridge ("Puente"), thus bestowing the first Spanish place name on their new discovery.

September 8, 1771 – Hispanic settlement of what will become Los Angeles County commences with the founding of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in the province of Las Californias in New Spain. First built on the bank of the Rio Hondo near today's Whittier Narrows, the mission moves to its present location after a flood in 1776.

September 4, 1781 – The founding of El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles.

1804 – Las Californias is divided into two new provinces: Alta California and Baja California.

1810 – The friars of Mission San Gabriel build a supply station and chapel 45 miles to the east. In the decades to come, a trail that connects the two Catholic outposts will become an important pioneer transportation link called the San Bernardino Road.

1821 – Mexico gains its independence from Spain.

November 26-27, 1826 – Jedediah Smith is the first U.S. citizen to venture by land into the valley of the San Gabriel. His party camps at the cienega of Mud Springs, now in San Dimas near the west end of today's Palomares Avenue.

November 5, 1841 – The Rowland-Workman Party arrives in Los Angeles from New Mexico via the Old Spanish Trail. The 65-member emigrant caravan comprises multiple nationalities, including Americans, Mexicans and Europeans.

March 9, 1842 – Alta California Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado grants Rancho La Puente to American-born Mexican citizen John A. Rowland. The initial grant holdings comprise 4 square leagues (approximately 23,000 acres) of prime range land east of the San Gabriel River and south of the San Bernardino Road.

1844 – British Crown subject Henry Dalton buys Rancho Azusa and a one-third interest in Rancho San José Adición from Luis Arenas for $7,000.

July 22, 1845 – Governor Pío Pico grants co-ownership of Rancho La Puente to Rowland's fellow settler and business partner, British-born Mexican citizen William Workman. By this decree, the rancho is also expanded in size to 48,790 acres: approximately 76-1/4 square miles.

April 24, 1846 – The beginning of the Mexican-American War. Rancho owners Rowland and Workman each participate in military actions in southwestern Alta California while skillfully straddling both sides of the conflict.

January 10, 1847 – Los Angeles falls to American forces following the Battle of Rio San Gabriel.

February 2, 1848 – The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which cedes Alta California to the United States. Under its terms, Rowland and Workman retain ownership of Rancho La Puente, and Rowland regains his U.S. citizenship.

c.1850 – Dalton sets aside a room on Rancho Azusa where the children of the upper valley's earliest settlers can learn their Three Rs.

September 9, 1850 – California becomes the 31st State in the Union.

1852 – The first American settlement in the San Gabriel Valley is founded at El Monte, on the Old Spanish Trail just east of the Rio Hondo.

1854 – The first orange trees are planted in Rancho La Puente.

1858 – The U.S. Government declares most of Henry Dalton's Rancho Azusa to be public land. During the following two decades, hundreds of American squatters/homesteaders will move into the area which today comprises the cities of Baldwin Park, Glendora, Irwindale, and the northern half of Covina. Dalton will spend the rest of his life appealing the dispossession of his property.

1861 – Dalton builds the first enclosed structure dedicated to classroom instruction on the lands east of the San Gabriel River. Called the Brush School because of the thatch used for its roofing, it is said to resemble "a covered corral." Seventeen pupils attend the first year.

1863-1864 – A severe drought decimates the region's cattle industry, and the ranchos of Los Angeles County turn increasingly to agriculture and land sales to survive.

1865 – The first general store and post office in the Lower Azusa Valley is built at "Four Corners" ("Las Cuatro Esquinas"), located at the northwest corner of the San Bernardino Road and Azusa Cañon Road. Orange trees are also planted there.

1866 – William Rubottom founds the town of Spadra: the first American settlement in Los Angeles County located east of the San Gabriel River.

1868 – Rowland and Workman agree to partition Rancho La Puente; Rowland becomes the sole owner of the land which will later become Covina.

c.1870 – A community center–Grange Hall–is erected on the south side of the San Bernardino Road about 500 feet west of today's Vincent Avenue. The gathering place is also used for church services and a school.

1872 – The Azusa Valley's first wood frame schoolhouse–Center School–is built at the southeast corner of today's intersection of Cerritos Avenue and Gladstone Street.

Fall, 1873 – Lower Azusa School–the first in what will become the Covina area–opens for classes south of the Azusa Cañon Road and west of San Dimas Wash (now the southwest corner of Cypress Street and Lark Ellen Avenue).

October 14, 1873 – "Don Juan" Rowland dies at the age of 82.

May 17, 1876 – "Don Julian" Workman kills himself following the failure of the Temple & Workman Bank and the subsequent forfeiture of his portion of Rancho La Puente to E. J. "Lucky" Baldwin.

September 2, 1876 – Costa Ricans Pedro Maria Badilla and Jose Julian Badilla purchase 5,563 acres of Rancho La Puente from Charlotte M. Rowland et al. for $45,000, intending to grow coffee. Julian and younger brother Pedro Antonio Badilla subsequently build houses on the south side of the San Bernardino Road west of today's Hollenbeck Avenue and work the land together. Pedro Maria, a Catholic priest, is an episcopal assistant to the Right Reverend Bishop Amat of Los Angeles.

September 5, 1876 – The Southern Pacific Railroad completes its new line connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco and the transcontinental railway system beyond. The S.P.R.'s right-of-way does pass through Rancho La Puente, but to the south of the San Jose Hills, bypassing the Azusa Valley.

1877 – Eugene C. Griswold builds a general store and meeting hall at the northeast corner of Azusa Road No. 2 (today's Citrus Avenue) and Azusa Cañon Road (Cypress Street), which also becomes the Covina area's first post office. Griswold's pioneer settlement is named "Citrus." The store closes in 1879, but Griswold's Hall remains the local post office until 1887.

1877 – The "Badillo Brothers" successfully grow 500 coffee plants, but the experiment is abandoned due to water issues and high labor costs.

Summer, 1878 – "Badilla & Co." harvest a bumper wheat crop so well adapted to local conditions and resistant to blight that it is sold for seed rather than milled for flour.

Winter, 1878-1879 – Julian Badilla moves his family to Mexico.

June 3, 1879 – After buying the delinquent Badilla mortgage from the Rowlands, J. Edward Hollenbeck forecloses on the Badillas and acquires the entirety of their lands on June 27.

Late 1879 – Old San Bernardino Road becomes a county road and is widened and straightened to its current alignment.

1880s – The cultivation of wheat, barley, and grapes dominates agriculture in Rancho La Puente.

1881 – J. B. Beardslee plants the first navel orange trees in the valley on his north Citrus Avenue property.

September 7, 1881 – J. E. Hollenbeck deeds Antonio Badillo [sic] 100 acres of his elder brothers' former land for a consideration of $1. The deed is recorded on September 10, 1881, at 2:03 PM.

September 7, 1881 – Covina's genesis is set in motion when businessmen Joseph Swift Phillips contracts to buy 2,000 acres of former Badilla lands from J. E. Hollenbeck. The purchase price is $30,000 with 5 years to pay, and Phillips must plant the tract in grain and give Hollenbeck half of each harvest's proceeds. The agreement is recorded on September 13, 1881, at 12:41 PM.

Early 1882 – Joseph Phillips and family move into Julian Badilla's former house on San Bernardino Road.

June 6, 1882 – Incorporation of the Azusa Water Development and Irrigating Company. In November, 1883, J. S. Phillips acquires a controlling interest and begins construction of a 7-mile-long cement ditch to bring San Gabriel River water to his land.

November, 1883 – The first public building erected on the future site of Covina is a schoolhouse located on 2.85 acres at the southeast corner of San Bernardino Road and Citrus Avenue. J. S. Phillips and M. Baldridge partner in its construction, and Miss Sherman is the first teacher.

January 21, 1884 – "Don Enrique de Azusa" dies empoverished in Los Angeles.

April 3, 1884 – Joseph Moxley is the first to buy land in the Hollenbeck/Phillips Tract: 20 acres lying southwest of the intersection of San Bernardino Road and the quarter section line of Section 13, Township 1 South, Range 10 West, S.B.B.&M., soon to be known as Barranca Street. Sue Pollard and J. S. Eckles also buy parcels that month; the three sales combined now leaving 1,956.75 acres of the larger tract as yet unsold.

November, 1884 – A group of German Baptists express an interest in establishing a religious colony on Phillips' Azusa Valley land and sign a purchase agreement for the entire acreage. Various names suggested for their new settlement include "Pilgrims Home," "Los Covinas," and "Covena." However, Phillips is unable to secure enough water for their needs before the "Dunkards" abandon their plan.

December, 1884 – Future Los Angeles mayor Frederick Eaton completes surveying and subdividing the Phillips Tract into 10.1-acre lots. On his plat map, Eaton officially names the 120-acre town site "Covina."

December 12, 1884 – Newspaperman H. N. Short and associate J. R. Conlee arrive in Covina to start The Covina Independent, and soon after erect the new town site's first structure–their print shop–at the southwest corner of Citrus and Badillo. The same day, C. W. Potter opens his blacksmithing shop under a spreading pepper tree in the newborn business district.

Spring, 1885 – Samuel Allison builds the first residence in the Covina town site at 160 West Badillo Street. Newspaper editor Conlee's house goes up soon after at 202 West College Street.

January, 1885 – The Phillips Tract opens for land sales, The Covina Independent publishes its first edition, and Covina's first general store is built by F. E. Grover at the northeast corner of Citrus and Badillo. A butcher shop and grocery soon follow.

January 8, 1885 – Phillips borrows $40,000 from the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company to pay Hollenbeck in full. To secure the loan, Hollenbeck and Phillips jointly convey the 1,956.75-acre tract to trustee James F. Houghton, who is vested with legal title to the land until Phillips repays the loan.

January 20, 1885 – The first ad announcing land for sale in the Phillips Tract appears in the Los Angeles Daily Times.

March 13, 1885 – A roller skating rink built on the west side of Citrus Avenue in Covina opens with a grand ball attended by people from all over the valley. The town's first church services are also held at the rink.

September 2, 1885 – J. Edward Hollenbeck dies suddenly at 56 at his home in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles.

December 24, 1885 – The Covina Social Club opens a community center on East Badillo Street, appropriately named Covina Hall. It also hosts church services.

January 15, 1886 – Francisca Vicenta (aka "Francis") Badilla, a daughter of Antonio Badilla, files a $25,000 civil suit against J. S. Phillips alleging seduction resulting in pregnancy. Phillips publicly pronounces the charge to be "blackmail of the meanest type," and the plaintiff withdraws the complaint 18 days later.

February, 1886 – Antonio Badilla sells his 100 acres to Covina pioneer Daniel Houser for $12,000, then subsequently moves most of his family back to Costa Rica. Eldest sons Rafael and Vicente remain in California and are employed by Phillips.

April, 1886 – The "Phillips Ditch" is completed following construction of a 10,000,000-gallon irrigation reservoir located on the south side of San Bernardino Road west of Grand Avenue.

Fall, 1886 – J. R. Hodges builds Covina's first permanent structure out of concrete on the south side of Badillo Street east of the Pioneer Blacksmith Shop. The following year, the town's first telephone is installed in Hodges' "Concrete Block."

1887 – Covina's first post office opens in the B. F. Eastman store on the southeast corner of Citrus and Badillo. It moves to the Warner Bros. grocery on Citrus the following year and J. Moxley becomes postmaster.

1887 – Center School is expanded to 4 rooms and is the first in the valley to organize classes by grades.

June 1, 1887 – Transcontinental rail service comes to the Azusa Valley with the arrival of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The line directly connects the neighboring towns of Azusa, Glendora and Alosta to Los Angeles in the west and Chicago in the east.

June 1, 1889 – J. S. Phillips defaults on his 1885 loan and loses all of his unsold Covina acreage in a forced sale. He subsequently departs the town he fathered.

Early 1890s – Large orchards of deciduous and citrus fruit trees begin replacing the grain fields and grape orchards of the Eighties.

1890 – Dr. James Denny Reed becomes Covina's first resident physician.

1891 – Charles Homer Ruddock builds the largest mansion in the Azusa Valley–Mountain View–on former Badilla/Hollenbeck lands to the immediate east of the Phillips Tract.

July 14, 1891 – The Citrus Union High School District is formed to jointly serve the communities of Azusa, Covina and Glendora. Citrus High's first classes are held that September in an abandoned hotel in the defunct settlement of "Gladstone" north of Covina.

December 10-11, 1891 – A powerful wind storm destroys many buildings in the budding town, including Citrus High School and Covina's skating rink.

August, 1893 – Area orange growers form the Azusa-Covina-Glendora Citrus Association. Several small packing houses are opened along the Santa Fe rail line through Azusa and Glendora. Lemon growers form a similar association in 1895.

1894 – Two new 2-storey schoolhouses are constructed to replace the pioneer-era Phillips and Lower Azusa buildings. Charter Oak also opens its own schoolhouse at the southwest corner of Bonnie Cove and Cienega Avenues.

Late 1890s – Citrus cultivation steadily grows to become the dominant form of agriculture in the Covina area.

September 9, 1895 – Service begins on the new spur line of the Southern Pacific Railroad through Covina. (Today's Metrolink right-of-way.)

September 20, 1895 – Anticipating increased traffic to and from the new Southern Pacific station at the north end of Second Street, Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin F. Cook and Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Bemis grant strips of their land to Los Angeles County allowing for the widening of Second from 50 to 100 feet.

October 10, 1895 – The town's first bank opens: a Covina branch of the Azusa Valley Bank.

October 14, 1895 – The Covina Citrus Association is incorporated.

December, 1895 – The Houser Bros. packing house–Covina's first large-scale citrus processing operation–is erected alongside the new Southern Pacific rail line.

March 26, 1896 – The Covina School District is formed.

1896 – The Pomona Road (today's Covina Hills Road) is completed over the eastern San Jose Hills.

1896-post WWII – With its own citrus industry, rail transportation links, schools and financial institutions now established, Covina's future is assured, and its first boom begins. The "Era of Citrus" will span the next half-century.

1897 – The Chapman/A.O.U.W. Block is erected at the northwest corner of Citrus Avenue and Badillo Street. It is known today as the Old Covina Bank Building.

May 10, 1897 – The Covina Reading Room and Library Association is formed. The first donation comprises 50 books.

April, 1898 – Local investors headed by C. H. Ruddock buy the Covina branch of the Azusa Valley Bank and re-name it the Covina Valley Bank.

June 6, 1898 – The Azusa Water Development and Irrigating Company changes its name to the Covina Irrigating Company, which today is the city's oldest business operating in the same location (146 E. College Street).

October 11, 1898 – Seventeen ladies gather in the home of Mrs. J. J. Morgan and organize the Monday Afternoon Club, which subsequently incorporates as the Covina Woman's Club.

1899, 1909 – The headquarters of the Covina Valley Bank—later the First National Bank of Covina—is constructed in stages at the northwest corner of Citrus Avenue and College Street.

August 28, 1899 – Covina High School opens, offering secondary-level education on the upper floor of the newly-expanded Grammar School. Lillie E. Harris is the first graduate of Covina High in Spring, 1900.

1900 – The landmark Reed Block is erected at the northeast corner of Citrus Avenue and Badillo Street.

August 11, 1900 – Covina's first hotel, The Vendome, opens at the northwest corner of Citrus and Cottage Drive. After changing its name to the Covina Hotel in 1916, it closes in 1928 and is torn down in 1935.

January 21, 1901 – The 20th century officially dawns in Covina with the arrival of electricity and electric lights.

March 27, 1901 – The Covina Valley Bank obtains a national charter and is reorganized as the First National Bank of Covina.

July 30, 1901 – Covinans vote 91-68 to incorporate. The California Secretary of State certifies the creation of the new city of the sixth class on August 6, and the final order for incorporation is entered by the County Board of Supervisors on August 14.

August 20, 1901 – Eri Gregg Clapp is sworn in as the first Chairman of the Board of City Trustees. The other Trustees are C. W. Potter, L. L. Ratekin, Thos. E. Finch and Joseph Moxley. F. M. Douglass is City Treasurer, E. B. Carrier is City Clerk, C. F. Parker is City Recorder and I. C. Fairly is City Marshal.

September 4, 1902 – The Covina Home Telephone Company is formed. By mid-1903, almost a hundred homes and businesses are connected to the network, and in October, 1903, long distance service to Los Angeles becomes available.

1902-1903 – Fifty electric street lights are installed in town. Forty-one more are added in 1908.

January 5, 1903 – Classes begin in the new Covina High School building located on San Bernardino Road behind the Grammar School and facing Park Avenue.

November 4, 1903 – The C. W. Tucker photographic studio opens for business. Through its direct successor—Powell Camera Shop—it would serve the Covina community for the next 123 years, finally closing in April, 2026.

November 5, 1903 – The first spike is driven for the Pacific Electric Railroad trolley line along Badillo Street. (Full interurban service in the P.E. network would not begin until June 5, 1907, however.)

1904 – Concrete sidewalks and curbs are installed along Citrus Avenue.

Fall, 1904 – Robert E. Dancer is the first to settle, drill for water and cultivate land in the area that will become West Covina. He plants English walnuts on his 34-acre property, others follow suit, and the area becomes known locally as "Walnut Center."

1904-1905 – Flood-prone Walnut Creek is channelized from Sunset Avenue west to the San Gabriel River.

December, 1904 – Lucky Baldwin commences subdividing his land south of Arroyo (later Garvey) Avenue.

April 26, 1905 – A new home for the Covina Woman's Club opens at the northwest corner of Citrus Avenue and Center Street.

May, 1905 – Mrs. I. I. Cook conveys to the city a 125' x 150' plot of land on the southeast corner of Second and Italia Streets for the construction of a library.

October 24, 1905 – Covina founder Joseph Phillips dies.

December 4, 1905 – Dedication of the new Carnegie Library. Henrietta M. Faulder—librarian since 1902—will serve continuously in her position there until her retirement in 1934.

April 14, 1906 – Dr. J. D. Reed establishes the Covina National Bank. Its first headquarters is in the Reed Block at the northeast corner of Citrus and Badillo.

1906-1907 – Baldwin's 4th and 5th Subdivisions in Rancho La Puente lay out the grid of streets of what will later become West Covina.

1907 – The Covina Union High School District is established to provide secondary education to the communities of Covina, Charter Oak, Lower Azusa/Vineland (Baldwin Park), and Walnut Center/Irwindale (West Covina).

1908 – Voters approve bonds to fund the purchase of land and construction of the larger high school.

February 15, 1909 – Warner, Whitsel & Co. (est. 1891) open their new grocery store in the Buller Block at 126 N. Citrus Avenue. The building is known to later generations of Covinans as Custer's.

March 1, 1909 – The rancho period ends upon the death of Lucky Baldwin.

March 30, 1909 – Dedication ceremony of Covina Union High School. Located on the west side of Citrus Avenue between Puente and Dexter Streets, instruction at the new civic landmark begins on September 20.

August 7, 1909 – Covina Argus editor J. L. Matthews encourages adoption of the name "West Covina" for the farming community to the south and west of the city.

September, 1909 – Irwindale School opens south of Walnut Creek on the west side of today's Sunset Avenue halfway between Cameron and Merced. Eleven students are enrolled in its first year. In 1914, the name is changed to West Covina School, and to Sunset School in 1950.

1910 – The 1894 grammar school is renamed the Reed School for philanthropist Dr. James D. Reed, and Lower Azusa is renamed for famed singer "Lark" Ellen Beach Yaw.

March 7, 1910 – The major league Chicago White Sox come to Covina to play its celebrated champion town team. The pros defeat the local amateurs 5-3.

May, 1910 – Center is the first street in town to be paved. Citrus Avenue from Center to School Street is paved in April, 1911.

February 3, 1912 – The Covina Women's Christian Temperance Union install a sanitary drinking water fountain in front of the Chapman/A.O.U.W. Block at the southern entrance to downtown. The little landmark will stand until 1932.

1913 – Covina's first fire truck is placed in service.

Fall, 1915 – The Citrus Union High School District opens Citrus Junior College: the first public community college in Los Angeles County.

April, 1916 – The street clock in front of the Finch Brothers Jewelry Store on Citrus Avenue is installed. In 1925, it is upgraded to run on electricity.

September 8, 1917 – Dedication of the Masonic Home on East Badillo Street in Charter Oak.

1919 – The fourth and last Covina Grammar School is constructed at the southeast corner of Citrus Avenue and San Bernardino Road.

March, 1919 – Wellesley P. Magan, M.D., opens a surgical practice in Office 64 of the First National Bank Building at Citrus and College, establishing the foundation of what will later become the Magan Clinic. He is joined by his younger brother, Dr. Shaen S. Magan, in October, 1921.

1920 – A new Lark Ellen School opens, and the old high school building is moved to the southwest corner of Second and School Streets and dedicated as the Covina Masonic Temple.

May, 1921 – Ten acres of the Adams Tract west of Fourth Street are acquired for the development of Covina Park.

December 19, 1921 – Opening night of the Covina Theatre. "Bits of Life," starring Wesley Barry, Rockliffe Fellowes, and Lon Chaney, Sr., is the first film shown in the new motion picture venue.

March, 1922 – Mrs. F. E. Wolfarth wins a Chamber of Commerce prize for her suggestion for a new city motto: "One Mile Square and All There." (However, the slogan actually used by the C-of-C was "A Mile Square...")

Summer, 1922 – Graduate nurses Misses Melisse Wittler and Lavina Graham open the city's first hospital in the former Charles E. Bemis home at the northwest corner of Badillo and Second Street. Mary Wittler joins the partnership soon after.

February 3, 1923 – The 507 residents of West Covina vote over 3:1 in favor of incorporation. Two days later, it is officially declared a city of the sixth class by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

1924 – Arrow Highway is proposed as a major arterial boulevard connecting San Bernardino to Los Angeles. Disputes over routing through Covina, San Dimas and La Verne drag on for decades, however, and the project as originally envisioned is never completed.

1924 – San Jose Hills Road (roughly following today's South Grand Avenue) gives Covinans a direct route to the Walnut Valley and on to Orange County.

1924 – The First National Bank of Covina erects a new headquarters at 200 North Citrus. The landmark building constructed by Edward A. Hubbard will house a succession of major financial institutions in the decades to come.

August 11, 1924 – Ground is broken for a new Covina Hospital at the southeast corner of Cottage Drive and Fourth Street. That same year, the Magan Clinic moves to its own building at 155 West College Street.

May, 1925 – The high school's new Science Hall is completed and readied for occupancy the following Fall term.

January 2, 1926 – Construction begins on a new $300,000 campus for the California Preparatory School for Boys on the former H. M. Houser ranch in the Covina Hills, 1-1/2 miles southeast of town.

April 30, 1927 – The Covina swimming plunge officially opens at Covina Park.

January, 1928 – Puddingstone Dam is completed across Walnut Creek. It is 147 feet high and 825 feet long at its crest. Although construction began in July, 1927, a reservoir at this site had been proposed as early as 1888.

May, 1928 – The opening of the Holt Avenue bypass southeast of Covina eases motor travel over the hills between Pomona and points west.

October, 1929 – Covina Hospital completes its new 50-bed facility at 257-267 West College Street.

December 7, 1929 – Dedication of the Oddfellows Building on the northeast corner of Citrus and Italia: Covina's first 3-storey commercial structure.

January 25, 1930 – Dedication of the new Covina City Hall on East College Street.

December, 1930 – The Covina Drive-In Market opens on the southwest corner of Citrus and San Bernardino Road.

September, 1931 – San Dimas Avenue now connects its namesake and neighboring cities to Holt Avenue in west Pomona and destinations further south.

May, 1933 – The new 3-lane Holt-Garvey Highway (CA-26, US-99-60-70) is completed over Kellogg Hill to Pomona. It is widened to 4 lanes in 1937.

October 13, 1934 – The city celebrates 50 years since its founding with a parade said to be its longest and largest ever.

April, 1937 – The First National Bank of Covina is purchased by Bank of America.

1938 – The Voorhis School for Boys (est. 1928)–located on South Valley Center Avenue in the Covina Hills–becomes the southern campus of the California Polytechnic School. In 1956, it relocates to the former W. K. Kellogg Arabian horse ranch, ultimately becoming today's Cal Poly Pomona.

May 4, 1940 – The new United States Post Office is dedicated at the southwest corner of College Street and Second Street.

1941 – George Meeker's "Sunkist Village" is West Covina's first suburban housing development.

May, 1942 – Cal Prep announces the sale of its Covina campus to the Theosophical Society Point Loma and moves to the former Foothills Hotel in Ojai.

1945-1946 – The "quick decline" virus spreads through the orange groves, killing thousands of trees. The devastating blight heralds the beginning of the end of Covina's Era of Citrus.

1945-1955 – High demand for new suburban housing after World War II results in a shifting of the local economy from agriculture to residential real estate and construction, ushering in Covina's second boom.

Fall, 1946 – Classes begin at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, affording local high school graduates a stepping stone to higher education.

March 28, 1947 – Citing competition from private automobiles, Pacific Electric ends its trolley service to Covina.

April, 1947 – Known variously over the past half-century as the Pomona Road, the Pomona & Covina Road, Pomona Hill Road, and Holt Road, the curvy old pioneer-era route from Rowland Avenue to the summit of Kellogg Hill is officially re-named Covina Hills Road.

September 9, 1947 – "Lark" Ellen Beach Yaw passes away.

January 1, 1948 – Covina Hospital changes ownership and becomes Inter-Community Hospital.

December, 1948 – The Santa Fe Dam is completed north of Arrow Highway in Irwindale, ending the threat of flooding from the San Gabriel River. The river rock dam is 92 feet tall and almost 5 miles in length.

Fall, 1951 – The California Baptist Theological Seminary opens at its campus on Covina Hills Road, occupying the former buildings of the California Preparatory School and Theosophical Society. The seminary ordains its last ministers in 1974.

August 1, 1952 – The first stores of West Covina Center are opened on Garvey Boulevard just west of Glendora Avenue.

1953 – The Covina Grammar School on Citrus Avenue is closed, and in 1955, the building is sold to Aetron: a division of Aerojet-General Corporation.

August 10, 1953 – Alpha Beta opens a new, modern grocery store on the southeast corner of Citrus Avenue and Rowland Street.

Summer, 1954 – Construction begins on Shoppers Lane, located immediately east and south of the new Alpha Beta.

1956-1957 – The San Bernardino Freeway (later Interstate 10) is extended through the West Covina area, and is completed over Kellogg Hill to Pomona on April 26, 1957.

February 11, 1956 – The Googie architecture jewel Covina Bowl opens at 1060 West San Bernardino Road.

Fall, 1956 – Covina High moves to its new campus on Hollenbeck Avenue, and West Covina High holds its first classes at the former CUHS campus. WCHS will move to its new site on Cameron Avenue in West Covina the following Fall. Edgewood Freshman High School is the last to occupy the grounds during the 1958-1959 school year.

October 25-December 20, 1956 – Grand openings of the anchor stores at the new West Covina Plaza shopping center on Garvey Boulevard west of Vincent Avenue.

April 11, 1957 – McCaiges of Covina–the first standalone department store in the eastern San Gabriel Valley–formally opens across from Covina Bowl on the southeast corner of San Bernardino Road and Rimsdale Avenue.

October 24-26, 1957 – Grand opening of the Eastland Shopping Center in West Covina. It is the sixth modern mall built in the Southland, and the first to be located adjacent to a freeway.

May 9, 1958 – Builders Emporium takes over the location of McCaiges department store becoming the area's first home improvement center.

August 27, 1958 – The Huddle restaurant in the Eastland Shopping Center–another Googie classic–serves its first customers.

Fall, 1959 – Classes begin at the new Northview High on Cypress Avenue, Charter Oak High on East Covina Boulevard and at Edgewood High at Merced and Orange Avenues in West Covina.

December 18, 1959 – The Covina Drive-In Theatre shows its first outdoor double feature at Arrow Highway east of Grand: "Houseboat" starring Sophia Loren and Cary Grant, and "The Big Circus" with Victor Mature.

c.1960 – Suburban homes now greatly outnumber orange groves. Covina's Era of Citrus has ended.

1960 – The Covina Woman's Club breaks ground for its new clubhouse at 128 South San Jose Avenue.

October 14, 1960 – An estimated 30,000 people gather to hear Vice President Richard Nixon deliver a campaign speech at Eastland.

1961 – Controversy surrounds plans by Forest Lawn to open an 1,100-acre cemetery in the Covina Hills. The protest demonstrations attract national news coverage.

September 25, 1961 – Dedication of a new branch of the Los Angeles County Library at 1601 West Service Avenue in West Covina.

November, 1961 – The convenience of "big box" retail is introduced to local shoppers with the opening of the WonderFair department store on Barranca Street opposite Eastland and SCOA on West Cameron Avenue in West Covina. White Front on North Azusa Avenue in Covina opens soon after in March, 1962.

November 15, 1961 – The gala premiere of the Eastland Theatre at 2504 East Workman Avenue in West Covina. It is the first area movie theater to feature stereo sound.

1962 – Covina founder Joseph Phillips' house at San Bernardino Road and Hollenbeck Avenue is burned down in a fire department training exercise.

1962 – The Broadway and Desmond's are the first stores in the new West Covina Fashion Center just west of West Covina Plaza; Desmond's opens on April 30, Broadway on August 6. Barker Bros. opens October 24 on nearby Service Avenue.

March 21, 1962 – Opening of 4-lane Grand Avenue south from Rowland Street to Holt Avenue.

June 10, 1962 – The gymnasium of the old Covina Union High School's campus on Citrus Avenue is gutted in an arson fire.

October 6, 1962 – Dedication of the new Queen of the Valley Hospital on Sunset Avenue at Merced in West Covina.

June 18, 1963 – The Capri Theater opens at 444 South Glendora Avenue in West Covina. The first feature screened in the 1,000-seat house is "Bye Bye Birdie."

Summer, 1963 – The campus buildings of the old Covina Union High School are razed for redevelopment.

November 30, 1963 – A new $400,000 Covina Public Library opens on the southeast corner of Second and Italia Streets.

Fall, 1964 – Classes begin at the new South Hills High School at Barranca Street and Cameron Avenue in West Covina.

Fall, 1965 – Classes begin at the new Royal Oak High School at East Badillo Street and Glendora Avenue in Charter Oak.

August 31, 1965 – The Carousel Theatre opens at 3213 East Garvey Avenue in West Covina. Although it plays host to many big name musical acts and shows, its location and "theatre in the round" stage design prove to be unpopular. It closes only 3 years later in December, 1968, and is demolished in February-March, 1969.

November, 1965 – Montgomery Ward takes over the former WonderFair/ABC department store on Barranca Street in Covina.

November, 1966 – Covina has a new main post office on Rimsdale Avenue north of San Bernardino Road.

February, 1967 – Azusa Avenue is extended south through the San Jose Hills from Francisquito Avenue in West Covina to Amar Road in La Puente.

July, 1967-February, 1968 – A new alignment of Grand Avenue south from Cortez Street in West Covina is constructed to bypass meandering old San Jose Hills Road, offering drivers a much quicker and safer route to Mount San Antonio College.

October 1, 1967 – The Magan Clinic opens its new main office on West Rowland Street just east of Hollenbeck Avenue.

July 31, 1968 – Grand opening of the Sears store at the southeast corner of Azusa Avenue and Arrow Highway.

1969 – The former Covina Grammar School/Aetron building is razed to clear the site for a proposed Covina Town Center which is never built.

1969 – The Covina Valley Historical Society is formed.

June 6, 1969 – West Covina dedicates its new Civic Center on South Sunset Avenue at West Service Avenue. The 27-acre site includes a City Hall, Police Facility, an Emergency Operating Center, and an addition to the existing County Courts building.

June 27, 1969 – The Fox Covina Theatre opens at 221 North Azusa Avenue. "The Love Bug" is the first movie shown there.

August 20, 1969 – Opening of the Wescove Cinema 1 & 2 at 1450 West Service Avenue in West Covina: the first multi-screen indoor movie theater in the eastern San Gabriel Valley. Nine-hundred ticket holders watch the first screening of "True Grit" in Cinema 1 that night.

1969-1970 – Cameron Avenue from Barranca Street to Grand Avenue is improved and widened.

September 25, 1975 – Following the demolition of the old open-air West Covina Plaza in 1974, a greatly expanded West Covina Fashion Plaza re-opens as the area's first fully enclosed indoor shopping mall.

1979 – Most of the former Cal Prep/Baptist Seminary campus is torn down and subsequently redeveloped for housing and offices. The last school building, the gymnasium, is razed in 2005. (The headmaster's house, however, still stands.)

April 1, 1979 – Longs Drugs opens its new expanded store in Eastland's Avenue Shops.

November 2-4, 1979 – Eastland's grand re-opening as an indoor mall. A new Mervyn's anchors the west end.

April 8, 1986 – Covina celebrates its centennial on the 100th anniversary of the recording of the official map of the Phillips Tract with the County of Los Angeles.

November 6, 1988 – National politics returns to Covina when Vice President George H. W. Bush and U. S. Senator Pete Wilson address a campaign rally in Covina Park.

1989 – Construction is completed on the 13-storey Eastland Tower at 100 North Barranca Street in West Covina. Standing 158 feet above street level, it is the tallest building in the eastern San Gabriel Valley.

January, 1993 – The closure of May Co. at Eastland is the death blow to the mid-century incarnation of the landmark shopping center. The May Co. store itself is demolished in 1996.

November, 1996 – Sears moves to The Plaza at West Covina and subsequently closes its Covina store.

2001 – Covina celebrates its centennial as an incorporated city.

May 7, 2003 – IKEA opens its new Covina location on the former site of Montgomery Ward at the southeast corner of Barranca and Workman Streets.

April, 2005 – The historic Covina Theatre is demolished to begin construction of the Covina Center for the Performing Arts. The new theatre venue opens in October, 2007, and is sold to the City of Covina in December, 2022.

April, 2017 – The Covina-Valley Unified School District votes to close Lark Ellen Elementary, ending 144 continuous years of primary school education at that location.

May-June, 2021 – The landmark Covina Bowl is demolished for condominiums, however the signature entrance and sign are spared for preservation.

For a timeline history of Covina's schools, click here.