Downtown Modesto affectionately called "DoMo" by many Modesto residents is the principal administrative area and historic

townsite A townsite is a legal subdivision of land for the development of a town or community. In the historical development of the United States, Canada, and other former British colonial nations, the filing of a townsite plat (United States) or plan ( ...

Modesto, California Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...

. Measuring a square-mile, it is bordered by the Needham and Downey Streets to the north, Washington Street to the west, Sierra Drive and Morton Boulevard to the south, and Morton Boulevard and Burney Street to the east. The area has an approximate population of 3,138, and is bisected by the California State Routes 99, 108, and

132 132 may refer to: *132 (number) *AD 132 *132 BC __NOTOC__ Year 132 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Laenas and Rupilius (or, less frequently, year 622 ''Ab urbe condita'') ...

Early history

In 1870, when the location for Modesto was chosen, a square-mile townsite with streets parallel to the Southern Pacific railroad. The townsite's outer streets were aligned from north, east, west, and south, and its interior streets and alleyways were aligned with the railroad which ran diagonally. They ran from northwest and southeast, and northeast and southwest. One of the first grand homes to be built in the site was the McHenry Mansion, built in 1883 for Robert McHenry and his wife Matilda Hewitt McHenry. It was styled in the Victorian-Italianate manner, and was designed and built by Stockton architect-contractor Jeremiah Robinson. By the dawn of the 1900s, early Modesto's streets were paved with asphalt. In a so-called "attempt" to revitalize Downtown Modesto in the 1960s, many

historic buildings This list is of heritage registers, inventories of cultural properties, natural and man-made, tangible and intangible, movable and immovable, that are deemed to be of sufficient heritage value to be separately identified and recorded. In many ...

were demolished, and few were spared.

Residential Area

The

residential area A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family resi ...

is south of 5th Street and east of G Street. Many Victorian,

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

, Craftsman and

Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

style

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. ...

s are proudly mixed with elegant commerces in this lively

modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

References

{{coord missing, Stanislaus County, California

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...

Neighborhoods in Modesto, California