Covington Avenue

Covington Avenue is a street of Pinehurst, running north from Cardington Avenue across Beaumont Avenue to Cook Street, a short block east of Boston Road and parallel to it. It was laid out in September 1910 on the plan of Pinehurst Manor, "owned by Frank W. Coughlin," drawn by H. A. Millhouse, civil engineer, of Boston (Plan Book 27, Plan 95), where an avenue is drawn from Cardington Avenue past Beaumont Avenue to the north edge of the tract; the top of the recorded sheet is torn and only the word "AVE." survives there. The name is first legible on the adjoining "Plan of Park View," owned by Bernard F. McHugh and drawn by Millhouse in April 1917 (Plan Book 34, Plan 79), which marks "Covington Ave." beside Pinehurst Park, and again on the 1925 plan of electric light poles on the unaccepted streets of Pinehurst Manor (Plan Book 47, Plan 64).

No record explains the name. It belongs with the other names chosen for Pinehurst Manor, such as Cardington, Beaumont, Allandale, Dorsett, Egmont and Chesterfield, which were picked for their English sound; Covington is an English place name, and no Billerica person or family of that name is known.

The town was asked in 1931 to accept Covington Avenue "from Cardington Avenue to the end of the line, not over 640 feet," and dismissed the article. At the annual meeting of February 5, 1938 it first voted to dismiss an article to accept "that part of Covington Avenue between Beaumont Avenue and Cardington Avenue," but later in the morning reconsidered, 141 to 58, and accepted it. On March 14, 1953 the town accepted the laying out of Covington Avenue "in a northerly direction about 400 feet from Beaumont Avenue" and voted $425 to improve it. The warrant for 1954 asked the town to accept a gift of about 2,500 square feet of the McHugh land fronting on Cook Street, whose "ultimate purpose is to continue Covington Avenue through to Cook Street"; the street now reaches Cook Street. Covington Avenue is not among the roads of the 1831 town map accepted by the town in 2016.

A water main was extended 300 feet along the street in 1937. It was graded and rolled in 1939 and "graded, rolled and oiled" in 1940, the first surface treatment recorded, and was tar patched through the 1940s; in 1947 it was given tar penetration for 400 feet and in 1948 an asphalt seal. In 1958 the town voted $5,332 to improve about 560 feet under the Betterment Act, with the abutters sharing the cost, and the reconstruction was carried out in 1958 and 1959. The 1959 warrant proposed a by-law to keep vehicles of more than a ton and a half off the 1,000 feet between Beaumont and Cardington Avenues, and an 8-inch main replaced the old undersized pipe between Beaumont and Cardington Avenues in 1973.

References

1. Annual Report of the Town of Billerica, 1937: water main extended 300 feet on Covington Avenue
2. Annual Report of the Town of Billerica, 1938: town meeting of Feb. 5, 1938 reconsiders, 141 to 58, and accepts Covington Avenue between Beaumont and Cardington Avenues
3. Annual Report of the Town of Billerica, 1940: Covington Avenue graded, rolled and oiled
4. Annual Report of the Town of Billerica, 1953: town accepts Covington Avenue 400 feet north from Beaumont Avenue and votes $425 to improve it
5. Annual Report of the Town of Billerica, 1953: warrant article to accept a gift of land on Cook Street to continue Covington Avenue through to Cook Street
6. Annual Report of the Town of Billerica, 1956: list of streets accepted by the town, Covington Ave. entries of 1938 and 1953
7. Annual Report of the Town of Billerica, 1958: streets voted under betterments, Covington Ave. $5,332
8. Annual Report of the Town of Billerica, 1959: Board of Public Works, reconstruction of Covington Avenue under the Betterment Act