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History · El Modena

The history of El Modena

Below: maps from 1896 on.

0on the National Register
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: CharlieM1021 · CC BY-SA 4.0

What stands out about El Modena’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of El Modena are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18968 editions of the USGS map, 1896 to 1981. Watch El Modena change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start El Modena’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how El Modena’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

El Modena on the map, 1896 to 1981

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of El Modena. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

El Modena on the 1896 USGS mapEl Modena on the 1901 USGS mapEl Modena on the 1932 USGS mapEl Modena on the 1949 USGS mapEl Modena on the 1950 USGS mapEl Modena on the 1964 USGS mapEl Modena on the 1972 USGS mapEl Modena on the 1981 USGS map1896Anaheim sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of El Modena.

The story

How El Modena came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of El Modena.

Read it all →

The area was historically, and remains, a barrio or colonia settled by Hispanics of Mexican heritage, as well some Californio and Spanish American settlers in the first half of the 19th century (1790-1850) before the annexation of California by the United States during the Mexican American War (1846-1848). In 1883 Quaker settlers arrived and established a local chapter of the Society of Friends.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

El Modena, 1888 to 1984

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe El Modeno post office opens
  3. 1896On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910Post officeThe El Modeno post office closes
  6. 1984Born hereJerard Rabb is born here
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Another post office, El Modeno, opened and closed inside today’s town.

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about El Modena’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.