The brand new town of Covina was introduced to the public in a December 13th, 1884 news article that translated its moniker as “a Spanish name for cove”. Not even close: ensenada is the word they were looking for. So either “covina” was someone’s clueless Spanglish or a portmanteau of “cove” and “vine”, winemaking being big business in the San Gabriel Valley back then. Viña is an authentic Spanish word – it means “vineyard” – so could the “Co” come from cueva, Spanish for “cave”? Or might it be a reference to the land’s former incarnation as a coffee plantation (see Badillo Street)? Alas, we may never know Covina’s true etymology, or who coined it – historians have variously credited town father Joseph Swift Phillips, his wife Cornelia (perhaps the “Co” stems from her name?), surveyor Fred Eaton, and even a group of religious settlers known as the Dunkards. Covina Boulevard itself was named in 1913; it was formerly known as the Covina-Lordsburg Road – Lordsburg being a town that was later merged into La Verne.
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