Abandoned Towns
An empty Railroad Avenue in Centralia in heavy rain, its center strip grown over with grass

Coal mining town

Centralia

A coal borough of more than 2,000 people, emptied by a mine fire that has burned beneath it since 1962. A street grid, a few houses, a church and four cemeteries remain, and five people lived here at the 2020 census.

40°48′12″N 76°20′30″W · ≈1,480 ft

Photo: Reelcheeper, Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Visits discouraged

The fire still burns. Pennsylvania DEP calls the area "extremely dangerous", warns of dangerous gases and ground "prone to sudden and unexpected collapse", and "strongly discourages anyone from visiting the immediate area." The remaining homes are private and still lived in. A PennLive report from August 2026 says the last residents "don't much like curiosity seekers."

Overview

The town a fire emptied

Centralia from the west end of South Street, 2010
Centralia from the west end of South Street, 2010 · Photo: Tom Vazquez, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Centralia grew up in the 1850s and 1860s on the anthracite of Pennsylvania's coal region, with railroads and mines on every side. It peaked at 2,761 people in 1890 and still had 1,986 in 1950.

In May 1962 the borough burned trash in its dump, an old strip-mine pit, and the fire found its way into the mine tunnels beneath the town. Efforts to dig it out or wall it off failed. By the late 1970s basement walls were hot, and in 1981 a sinkhole nearly swallowed a 12-year-old boy. Congress paid for a buyout, and by 1991 about 545 homes and businesses had been bought for demolition. The state condemned the whole borough in 1992.

A few residents refused to go. A 2013 settlement lets them stay for life, and five lived here at the 2020 census. Visitors still come, but a PennLive reporter in 2026 found mostly overgrowth: "a handful of vent holes, a few occupied homes and roads that lead nowhere." The fire could burn for another 250 years.

Video

A rainy drive around the grid

A travel YouTuber drives Centralia's streets in the rain, past the municipal building, the house held up by brick buttresses, the church on its hill with cars outside for a Sunday service, and graffiti on Laurel Street. He films the town from its streets, stops at the cemeteries on the south side of town and flies a drone over the grown-in grid. Then he follows a path marked in orange off Big Mine Run Road to rocks he calls the smoking vents. The last five minutes are in Ashland, on the Pioneer Tunnel mine tour. The vents he walks to are on the ground Pennsylvania DEP calls prone to sudden collapse, and it strongly discourages visits. Stay on the roads.

Play “The Ghost Town That's On FIRE ||| Centralia, Pennsylvania” from YouTube
“The Ghost Town That's On FIRE ||| Centralia, Pennsylvania”, by Travel with a Wiseguy on YouTube. The player loads from YouTube when you press play.

Timeline

A coal town and its fire

Centralia from the air, August 12, 1971
Centralia from the air, August 12, 1971 · Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture (via Penn Pilot); cropped by Ruhrfisch, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
  1. Jonathan Faust opens the Bull's Head Tavern, which gives the first settlement its name, by Wikipedia's account. Pennsylvania DEP dates a town called Bull's Head to 1811.
  2. The Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company buys the land. Its mining engineer, Alexander Rae, lays out a village called Centreville.
  3. The Mine Run Railroad opens, and the first two mines, Locust Run and Coal Ridge, follow in 1856.
  4. The town is renamed Centralia, because Schuylkill County already has a Centreville. The Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad arrives, and the borough is incorporated in 1866.
  5. The census counts 2,761 people, the most Centralia ever has.
  6. Population 1,986.
  7. Burning trash in the borough dump, an old strip-mine pit, reaches the coal seams. Accounts differ on the exact day; David DeKok gives May 27.
  8. Rail service ends. Most coal mining in the area has already shut down.
  9. Mayor John Coddington finds the gasoline in his station's underground tank at 172°F.
  10. A sinkhole opens under 12-year-old Todd Domboski in his grandmother's yard. His cousin pulls him out.
  11. Congress sets aside about $42 million to buy out and relocate residents. Wikipedia dates the money to 1983, PennLive to 1984.
  12. The exodus is largely complete. About 545 homes and businesses have been bought for demolition.
  13. Governor Bob Casey invokes eminent domain on all property in the borough.
  14. A Route 61 detour around the fire becomes the permanent highway. The abandoned stretch later becomes the "Graffiti Highway."
  15. The Postal Service discontinues Centralia's ZIP code, 17927.
  16. The last residents settle with the state. They may live in their homes for life, after which the properties pass to the state.
  17. The property's owners bury the Graffiti Highway under mounds of dirt.
  18. The census counts 5 residents.

What's left

What's left in 2026

The last house of a row, held up by brick buttresses since its neighbors came down, August 2014
The last house of a row, held up by brick buttresses since its neighbors came down, August 2014 · Photo: Z22, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The borough's municipal building on Locust Street (PA 42), September 2019
The borough's municipal building on Locust Street (PA 42), September 2019 · Photo: Mr. Matté, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

The street grid is still there, but most lots have gone back to trees. The 1971 aerial above shows the town before the buyout: rows of houses along a tight grid, with strip-mine scars all around. PennLive's August 2026 report found that the dramatic smoke and steam of the 1980s are largely gone. One open borehole still blew hot, foul-smelling air.

The municipal building with its fire station garage stands, though the town's name has been taken off it. The Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which a geological survey found sits on solid rock, is the last church. The four cemeteries are maintained, and PennLive found their gates open to visitors. The old Route 61, the Graffiti Highway, was buried under dirt in 2020.

The historic maps below show the town's grid near its peak in 1889, along the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and in 1947 and 1953, with the borough boundary drawn around it and the village of Byrnesville (spelled Byrnsville on the sheets) to the south. The fire later emptied Byrnesville too.

  • Street grid
  • A few occupied houses (private)
  • Municipal building
  • Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary church
  • Four cemeteries
  • Vent holes and boreholes
  • Buried Route 61 (Graffiti Highway)
USGS topographic map of Centralia with Locust Avenue, Centre Street, the municipal building and Byrnesville
USGS The National Map, topo. Locust Avenue runs north to south through the grid; Byrnesville is to the south.
Aerial view of Centralia: a grid of streets with few buildings, surrounded by woods
Aerial imagery, closer in. The streets survive, but only a handful of buildings stand among the trees.

Historic maps

Centralia on USGS maps, 1889–1953

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Centralia, 1889
Catawissa sheet, 1889, 1:62,500 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Ashland is the closest town, less than 3 miles south on PA 61. From Philadelphia the fastest route runs up the Northeast Extension and I-78, then north on PA 61 through the coal region. Both routes end on Peach Street, in the middle of town.

USGS topographic map between Ashland and Centralia with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From Ashland2.6 miabout 6 min
  1. From Middle Street, turn right on South 13th Street, then left on Centre Street (PA 54/PA 61).0.5 mi
  2. Turn right on North Memorial Boulevard (PA 61), which becomes Locust Avenue in Centralia.2.1 mi
  3. Turn left on Main Street, then right on Peach Street.0.1 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • The town's streets are paved and open, but Pennsylvania DEP warns that "walking and/or driving in the immediate area could result in serious injury or death."
  • Wikipedia notes warning signs for underground fire, unstable ground and carbon monoxide. Stay on the roads and away from vents and fenced ground.
  • The abandoned stretch of old Route 61, the Graffiti Highway, was covered with mounds of dirt in April 2020.
  • The few remaining homes are private and still lived in, and PennLive reports that their owners don't much like curiosity seekers. Leave them be.

Photos

Centralia in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Centralia?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Centralia

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Pennsylvania index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Centralia": fact sheet fields (county, roads, climate, best time).
  2. Wikipedia, "Centralia, Pennsylvania", retrieved October 2026: founding, names, railroads, census figures, David DeKok's May 27, 1962 date for the fire, the 1979 and 1981 incidents, relocation, eminent domain, ZIP code, the 2013 settlement, Graffiti Highway, municipal building, church and cemeteries, Byrnesville, warning signs, coordinates.
  3. Pennsylvania DEP, "Centralia Mine Fire Resources", as of October 2026 (the page carries no date): the fire in the Buck Mountain coal bed since May 1962, the 1811 date for Bull's Head, the dangers and the warning against visits.
  4. John Luciew, PennLive, "Still burning: Centralia's strange attraction 64 years after mine fire created a ghost town", in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 16, 2026: what visitors find today, the cemeteries, the residents, the 1984 relocation money, the buyout figures, the 250-year estimate.
  5. Travel with a Wiseguy, "The Ghost Town That's On FIRE ||| Centralia, Pennsylvania", YouTube, uploaded July 31, 2025: the video on this page, a drive around the streets with the municipal building, the buttressed house, the church, the south-side cemeteries and the vents off Big Mine Run Road.
  6. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits