Centralia was a small town in Columbia county, Pennsylvania which in 1962 was the epitome of the charming New England town. It had a population of over 100 residents.

A little fire in town migrated into an exposed vein of anthracite coal under the town. The flames on the surface were successfully extinguished, but the coal continued to burn underground for many years, so that in 1984 the fire was completely out of control and the city had to be evacuated.

A few families opted to stay despite warnings from state officials. In 1992, Pennsylvania claimed eminent domain on all properties in the borough, condemning all the buildings within the borough.

Nowadays, Centralia is an abandoned and ghostly place. The fire still burns beneath the town and there is enough coal to feed the fire for up to 250 years. The ruins of Centralia no longer exists on some maps. Most of the buildings have been razed, and at casual glance the area now appears to be a meadow with several paved streets through it.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 17th, 2007 at 2:19 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.