Modesto, California

==History==
[[File:10th Street, Modesto, California, circa 1875.jpg|thumb|Modesto's 10th Street {{Circa|1890}}]]
[[File:California - Modesto - NARA - 23934545.jpg|thumb|right|Modesto in 1943]]
The City of Modesto was originally a stop on the railroad connecting [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] to [[Los Angeles]], built by [[Central Pacific Railroad]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.modestogov.com/DocumentCenter/View/6337/History-of-Modesto-PDF?bidId=|title=History of Modesto|publisher=City of Modesto|access-date=March 16, 2021}}</ref> When Modesto was founded in 1870, the railroad company co-founder [[Mark Hopkins Jr.]] suggested to name it after his associate the banker [[William C. Ralston]]. Ralston asked that another name be found, and a railroad employee exclaimed loudly in Spanish that Ralston was a modest man. The railroad company co-founder [[Charles Crocker]] then named the town Modesto in recognition of Ralston's modesty.<ref>{{cite web |title=Greening of Paradise Valley - The First 100 Years of the Modesto Irrigation District |publisher=Modesto Irrigation District  |pages=2–3 |url=https://www.mid.org/about/history/grnng_of_pvy-02.pdf}}</ref>

Modesto's population exceeded 1,000 residents in 1884. With fields of grain, the nearby [[Tuolumne River]] for grain barges, and railroad traffic, the town grew. Irrigation water came from dams installed in the foothills, and irrigated fields of vegetables and fruit and nut trees flourished. By 1900, Modesto's population was more than 4,500. During [[World War II]], the area provided canned goods, powdered milk, and eggs for the US [[United States Armed Forces|armed forces]] and Allied forces. For the next few decades, Modesto's population grew about two percent per year, to over 100,000 in 1980 and over 200,000 in 2001.

The city's official motto, "Water Wealth Contentment Health," is emblazoned on the downtown [[Modesto Arch]], which is featured in local photographs and postcards. The motto was selected in a contest held in 1911, with a $3 prize for the winner. (The original winning motto, "Nobody's [[:wikt:get someone's goat|got Modesto's goat]]",<ref>{{cite book|last=Hoover |first=Mildred Brooke|title=Historic Spots in California |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AYMPR6xAj50C&pg=PA521 |year=2002|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-7817-6|page=521}}</ref> was later declined by town officials.) Modesto's motto is sometimes spoofed as "The land gets the water, the bankers get the wealth, the cows get contentment, and the farmers get the health."<ref name=Baggese>{{cite book|last=Baggese|first=Carl|title=Modesto|year=2011 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0738575797|page=61 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gX9KHhfwd4C&pg=PA61}}</ref>

===Planning and environment===
In 1885, Modesto enacted what is now considered to be the first [[zoning]] ordinance. The ordinance's primary goal was to keep laundries (which were primarily Chinese run), out of the city.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Williamson |first1=C.J.S. |title=Mechanics of Zoning Adjustments |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |date=May 1931 |volume=155 |issue=2 |pages=108–122 |doi=10.1177/000271623115500215|s2cid=145796947 }}</ref> After an arrested man filed to contest the constitutionality of the ordinance, the case escalated to the California Supreme Court which found the law to be constitutional.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bernstein |first1=David E. |last2=Eliot |first2=David |title=Lochner, Parity, and the Chinese Laundry Cases |journal=William and Mary Law Law Review |date=1 January 1999 |volume=41 |page=211 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.146952}}</ref>

In the late 1980s Modesto embarked on an update to the city's [[general plan]] pursuant to requirements of the State of California. The result was a comprehensive evaluation of alternative population and land use projections along with associated environmental impact analysis. Some of the environmental factors technically assessed were air quality, [[water quality]], [[environmental noise]], [[soil contamination]] and visual impacts.

Much of the soils in Modesto are classified as part of the Hanford series: (HbpA) fine [[sandy loam]], moderately deep over silt.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bureau of Soils|title=Soil survey of ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-LwAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA81|year=1964|publisher=Dept. of Agriculture|page=81}}</ref> These soils are well-drained, moderately coarse-textured soils derived from [[alluvium]] from granitic rock. The Hanford soils are important for the production of a wide variety of irrigated orchard, field, and [[market garden|truck crops]].

Vicinity watercourses include the [[Stanislaus River]], the [[Tuolumne River]] and [[Dry Creek, Stanislaus County|Dry Creek]] which empties into the Tuolumne River. Area groundwater, which is the principal source of water supply in the city,<ref>''Stanislaus County General Plan'' (1987)</ref> has been historically impaired in a fashion that is spatially variable. Water from the nearby Modesto Reservoir is now used to augment city water. In various parts of the city and its perimeter the following [[water pollutant]]s have occurred from time to time: [[nitrate]]s, [[dibromochloromethane]], [[Volatile Organic Compounds|volatile organics]], salinity, [[total dissolved solids]] and other [[pesticide]]s.<ref>John Torrey, Paul Awosika et al., ''Expanded initial study, Boulder Creek subdivision, Stanislaus County'', Earth Metrics, Report 7999: California State Clearinghouse, Sacramento, November 1989.</ref> Each of these contaminants is not present citywide.

The [[EPA]] rates air quality in Modesto as a 23 on a scale to 100 (higher is better), making Modesto an unhealthy place to live for those with breathing difficulties. This is based on ozone alert days and number of pollutants in the air. In May 2010, ''Forbes'' magazine, in association with the [[American Lung Association]], indicated that Modesto was one of the top 25 most polluted cities in the U.S.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/2010/04/28/polluted-cities-smog-lifestyle-health-american-lung-association-ozone_slide_2.html?partner=msnhealth |work=Forbes |title=List: Worst Cities For Ozone Pollution}}</ref>

===Downtown revitalization===
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2019}}
As of the 2000s, downtown Modesto (DOMO) has new attractions including the Gallo Center for the Arts and the new Downtown Plaza adjacent to Modesto Centre Plaza. Downtown Modesto has lost the Hotel Covell, the [[art deco]] Strand Theatre, and the Sears building.

Historic 10th and 11th streets, which were the original locations of the cruising featured in ''American Graffiti'', have been designated by the City of Modesto as the Historic Cruise Route. This is now a tourist walk with information about Modesto's music, car and Graffiti culture.

In 2014, the Walk of Fame was launched on the Historic Cruise Route with markers celebrating classic legends like [[George Lucas]], [[Gene Winfield]], Bart Bartoni and others.

Classic Community Murals was launched by Modesto magazine ''ModestoView'' and the Peer Recovery Art Center to create a series of large scale murals celebrating the Modesto Classic Graffiti heritage. Many of these are on the Cruise Route.

New business incentives have been created to enhance facades, signage, and permitting.  A promenade is being designed to create a special entertainment zone along the corridor between the Modesto Centre Plaza and the Gallo Center for the Arts and the adjacent core streets of 10th, 11th and J streets.