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 agricultural