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Panoramic Virtual Tours:

Mine Fire Hot Spot
Downtown Centralia Mainstreet Centralia Damaged Hillside

 
 
   
Knoebels Amusement Park (only 15 miles from Centralia!) 
Ghost Towns
Area 51 - Groom Lake
Abandoned PA Turnpike
Defunct Amusement Parks
Abandoned Places

  

Photo Updates:


Centralia in HDR

July 2006 360? Virtual Tour of Downtown Centralia PA

Centralia's Neighbor:
Byrnesville, Pa

Zeisloft's Mobil
Gas Station

July 5th 2008
Centralia PA

Centralia PA 2008
January Photos and 
commentary by
Donald Davis


2006 Photos


2005 Photos
of Centralia


 

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2004 Photos
of Centralia


2003 photos

of Centralia

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2002 photos

of Centralia


360 Degree Virtual Tours of Centralia PA
 

Fire In The Hole
by Kristie Betts
A fictional story based on Centralia
 

The Little
Town That Was

by Donald Hollinger

 

RESIDENTS TO SAVE THE BOROUGH OF CENTRALIA - FACT SHEET #6 - MARCH 1984 - This "Fact Sheet" was transcribed from a photocopied, original March 1984 newsletter from a Centralia organization called "Residents To Save The Borough Of Centralia".  Read the News Letter here


130th Anniversary
of the 1877 Shamokin Uprising and the Great Railroad Strike .. Read More

 

Centralia Today
A Photo Documentary
of Centralia today.

 

Mine Emergency Response Program
Details from the
Saskatchewan
Mine Rescue Manual
 

















 

Centralia PA, July 30, 2006

The following images are from a Mid-summer trip to Centralia.

Above: Ashland, 2 mile before Centralia where 61 hangs left up the hill.
Above & Below: Ashland, on the long drive up the hill.
Up the long hill then turn right following Rt. 61 at the top of the Ashland Hill.
This is the 2 mile stretch of 4 lane highway that runs between Ashland and Centralia.
Nearing Centralia you are bypassed around the damaged section of Route 61 along Byrnesville Road.  Along this road on the north side of the street is the Byrnesville wash house and lamp house for Germantown Colliery.  It was used by the miners of the nearby mine to shower after a long hard day in the mines prior to return to home for the day. It also served as the boiler house. 
In more recent years the Byrnesville wash house was used to store ashes for the highway treatment in winter weather.  Today it is abandoned.
 

 

 
Where Byrnesville Road merges back with Rt. 61 at the top of a hill, you are in Centralia.  An immediate right onto an old gravel road will take you back to the old protestant cemetery named "Odd Fellows Cemetery".  It is near this location that the old strip mine, which was used as a dump back in 1962, had caught a coal seam on fire.  The origins of the Centralia mine fire.

 


Vent pipe within the cemetery.
 

 

 

 
Ground Zero
Just beyond the Cemetery, to the left, was the edge of the old strip mine that had become the town dump in 1962.  During that year, with Labor day approaching soon, ceremonies were scheduled to take place at the old Odd Fellows Cemetery.  A decision was made to clear the dump of the unsightly debris in order to tidy up the area.  Back then it was common practice to burn trash in order to get rid of it or diminish its volume.  The net effect was a smoldering fire in the trash pit that was thought to be extinguished after the initial burning, but erupted ablaze again within a few days.  The fire was thought to be extinguished once again but was not.  By the time the trash in the pit was dug up to expose the smoldering debris, it was too late.  A gapping hole was found in the pit wall that lead into a mine shaft.  The coal was on fire beneath the ground beyond the pit wall and the hole.  One of many old mining holes that was supposed to be closed and filled with inert material prior to its use as a municipal dump.  Today this area is nothing but flat land with a few old pipes sticking out of the ground that no longer vent gases and steam.  The fire has long since move on along several fronts.  Several hundred feet from here to the west on the other side of Rt. 61 is the most evident display of visible damage.
In this area is where the Mine fire originated in 1962.
 

 

 

  

 
Today this area is home to a weather station.
   

Looking east.

 
The fire is near the surface in this location.  The roots of this old stump have become pipelines to the surface for the venting gases below.
Occupied homes in the distance.

 

 
Above left is where the St. Ignatius Church stood.  Right, the old church before it was dismantled, a victim to the fire below.

 

Above and below, a subsidence hole along Apple Street and Main Street.  The hole had been filled in and covered by a steel plate.

 

Looking north on Apple Street.

 
Apple St. and Centre St. Looking West.

 
Continuing north on Apple St.

 
Apple St. to the rear of the Centralia Municipal Building.
 
The surrounding pictures are the Centralia Municipal Building which houses an ambulance, a fire truck and a police station.

 

East of the main intersection of Centre St. and Locust St. (where 54, 61 and 42 intersect), is this abandoned house.  Vacant for a while now, the structure has an eerie stillness about it.
A musky, moldy smell comes out of the open basement door.

 

 

  photos continued, follow this link...

   

 
  Mine Fire History Mine Fire History Historical Photos
  Pictures From Today Mine Fire Chronology Visiting Centralia
  Centralia Then & Now 360? Virtual Tours Scientific Study
  Satellite, Aerial Photos Downtown Panoramic Centralia Books

  

Other Interesting Things

 

 


 

So you want to Visit Centralia PA?  What you should know before you go to Centralia PA.

 

The Real Disaster Is Above Ground: A Mine Fire and Social Conflict

 


















 

What's near Centralia?

Plan your visit around one of Pennsylvania's best kept secrets located only 15 miles up the road from Centralia...


Knoebels
Amusement Park

Click Below for
 more details...

Knoebels
Amusement Park

 


Silent Hill & Centralia
Centralia PA inspires screenwriter Roger Avary during the making of the movie Silent Hill.
Read More Here...

 

Remembering ...
Byrnesville PA
By Mike Reilley

 
  Books about Centralia
  Maps of Centralia
  Around Town Today
  Local Attractions
 
  Personal Notes
  Additional Reading
  Haunted Centralia?
 
  Gerry McWilliams and
  the album "Centralia"
  
  Silent Hill Inspiration
  Other Mine Fires
  Search Centralia
  Centralia Sites/Books
  
Panoramic Virtual Tours:
Mine Fire Hot Spot
Downtown Centralia Mainstreet Centralia Damaged Hillside
  
 
  Centralia Infrared


Centralia PA in B&W Infrared
Infrared Photography
by Donald Davis

Video Tour
in Infrared of
Centralia PA
by Donald Davis

  

The Little Town That Was
by Donald Hollinger
 
  
Made in U.S.A. - 1987 movie that was filmed on location in Centralia PA See the opening Scene that started in Centralia during the peek of the mine fire disaster

 
 

 

Is Centralia Haunted?
Explore the possibility

 
The Real Disaster Is Above Ground: A Mine Fire and Social Conflict
 
  

Is there Hope
for Centralia?

Maybe...

Through the use of Nitrogen-Enhanced foam the Pinnacle mine fire was extinguished by Cummins Industries, Inc.  Cummins proposes to tackle the Centralia Mine fire and bring an end to the 
40 plus year fire.

Read this White Paper which evaluates the effectiveness of remotely applied nitrogen-enhanced foam to aid in efforts to isolate and suppress a mine fire.