Covina’s first civic building was a mission revival firehouse-jail constructed in 1911 by pioneer builder Clarence Allison. When a new city hall and fire station was built in 1930, the fire department moved, but the jail remained in the original building until 1976, when a new fire, police, and jail complex was completed. The next year, the city authorized the Covina Historical Society to transform the building into a community museum, and the Firehouse-Jail Museum opened in 1979.