Biohazard Cleanup Near West Modoc Modoc, IN

Modoc is a tiny town in Union Township, Randolph County, in east-central Indiana — not the California county of the same name — covering just 0.1 square miles.

Modoc was founded in 1883, and a post office has been in operation there since that same year.

The town likely owes its existence to the I. B. & W. Railroad, which crossed southern Randolph County in 1878, five years before Modoc was founded.

Two legends explain the town's name: one says a traveler threw a cigar box bearing the name 'Modoc' from a train and settler Henry Conley picked it up and proposed it, while another says the town was named for the Modoc people of northern California, famed for their resistance in the Modoc War that ended in 1873.

The 2020 census counted 157 people in Modoc, down from a recent peak of 223 in 2000.

In the 2010 census, Modoc's 196 residents lived in just 72 households, and the town's median age was a notably young 33 years.

Modoc students attend Union High School, whose teams are the Rockets and whose colors are royal blue and gold.

Near Modoc sits Randolph Farms Landfill, a 120-acre landfill built on a limestone hill that serves six Indiana counties as well as Darke and Miami counties in Ohio.