Modena Borough

Borough municipal offices mailing address is P. O. Box 116, Modena, PA 19358; phone: 610-384-2889.

Borough residences consist primarily of detached single family homes and semi-attached, twins. Singles from the late 19th century (with some as recent as the 1990s) are typically less than 2,000 sq ft with a median age circa 1951. Twins are primarily from the early 20th century (median age circa 1905) and are typically 1,000-1,500 sq. ft.

"Located two miles southeast of Coatesville astride the Western Brandywine, Modena was found in the eighteenth century when William Mode erected a grist mill and in 1813, when he was sixty years of old, he converted it into a paper mill which his two sons operated. The village was named Modeville, but the railroad station was simply Mode Station. When a post office was established there March 24, 1873, it was called Modena. In 1930, through the influence of the paper mill owners, the town changed its name to Paperville, as did the post office in 1938, but not for long. The Mode family had left so deep an impression on the town that the inhabitants renamed it Modena in 1944. [1]

1. Edward Pinkowski, Chester County Place Names, Philadelphia: Sunshine Press, 1962.