Modesto

Settled in 1870 by the Central Pacific Railroad, Modesto is located in California's agriculturally rich Central Valley. The new town was to be named after the prominent California banker W. C. Ralston, but, as city lore and legend tell it, his modest refusal led to the name Modesto. Originally a wheat—producing region, the city blossomed with the arrival of irrigation, and fruit orchards and vineyards soon grew in abundance. The county seat of Stanislaus County, Modesto became an agricultur...