Modena area

Iron County Utah

Garden Valley Ranchos

Camp, Rv. Site-builds, Mobiles and modulars allowed. Elevation range 5300 ft.

MODENA

Modena (Iron) is on U-56, 9.4 miles east of the Nevada border and fifty miles west of Cedar City. The exact source of the name is hard to pin down. One source states that an Italian laborer named the railroad camp after Modena, Italy. Another source relates that a Chinese cook during the serving of dinner would call out periodically, "Mo'dinna, mo'dinna". An earlier name was Deseret Springs.

With the advent of the railroad in Iron County and its arrival in the Modena area in December 1899, Brigham J. Lund, along with two partners, E. M. Brown and Jose Price, started a small business venture here. In time they were freighting to St. George, Utah; Pioche, Nevada and Delamar. Lund soon bought out his partners and in 1903 incorporated under the name of B. J. Lund & Company. The name "Lund" is still found on several buildings in town including the General Merchandise & Hotel building. By 1903, a U.S. Weather Bureau office had also been established in Modena. The Last Chance Saloon now closed and boarded up is a reminder of a distant era.

The change from steam to diesel by the railroad brought about the demise of Modena which today is almost a ghost town. Only five families remain. There is a small convenience store/post office and a gas pump (no services available as of this writing) in town which served locals and others working the silver, iron ore, and beryl rock mines around the area. A stone school building is one of the more imposing solid structures in town. Edna Thorley 91, taught elementary school children in the building. She still lives in town and keeps up scrapbooks filled with memories of the past and present. Just north of town is the Modena cemetery.

Nearby towns include Uvada, 11.8 miles southwest on U-56; Beryl, 18 miles northeast on U-257; Newcastle, 23.2 miles southeast on U-56; and Enterprise, 27.8 miles southeast on U-56, U-18. St. George is 67.3 miles south.

Garden Valley Ranchos Unit 1 is closer to the Highway .Unit 5 is further from the Highway.