Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Modena Elementary School. Below: maps from 1972 on and the census since 1910.
Modena dates its founding to 1899 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1910.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Modena’s history is told.
Peaked at 175 in 1940; 15 people lived here in 2020.
6 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Modena’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Modena.
The settlement was established as a railroad town in 1899 by the Utah and Nevada Railway. By 1905 it was on the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad route between Salt Lake City and Southern California.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltModena Elementary School is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Modena. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Modena.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Modena had its own post office from 1901 to 1974.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1899, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Modena’s post office opened in 1901, and the census of 1910 counted 49 people here.
One place: the Modena Elementary School (listed 1985).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 Wikimedia Commons (10), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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