Cordova was originally a settlement on the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River called “Dent” or “Dent’s Place.” The city was dubbed “Cordova” by Captain Benjamin M. Long in 1859. He named the city after a city in Mexico in which he was stationed during the Mexican War. Long himself opened a mercantile shop in the city and helped lure other industries into the city by providing the land necessary for their operations. The company that had the biggest impact on the City was Nashua Manufacturing Company out of Nashua, New Hampshire, who brought in the Indian Head Textile Mills. The mill brought with it many jobs, and as was customary of the day its own village. The company built over 100 houses in the city, its own school, police force, and stores. The city was forever shaped by the impact of this mill, and was re-defined by an EF-3 and an EF-4 tornado on April 27th, 2011. The city is now hard at work defining the twenty-first century version of herself.