When I drove up to see Alice Kay a week ago, I went through the town of Centralia. I've been there a couple times - but each time I see the place I find myself driving up and down the quaint streets lined with sidewalks...and without any houses.
Centralia is a ghost town a little ways north of Ashland, Pennsylvania. Its population has dwindled from over 2,000 in its heyday to 1,000 residents in 1981 to just 7 in 2010.
It is a typical Pennsylvania coal town. Alexander W. Rea, a civil and mining engineer for the Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company, moved to the site after coal was discovered near the surface and laid out streets and lots for development in 1854.
Alexander Rea, being a "coal mine manager," was seen by the poor and rather abused miners as an evil man, and he was one of the victims of the secret order known as the Molly Maguires when he was murdered on October 17, 1868. Three individuals were convicted of the crime and hanged.
It is not known for certain how the fire that made Centralia essentially uninhabitable was ignited. The fire remained burning underground and spread through a hole in a rock pit used as the town dump and into the abandoned coal mines beneath the town.
Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, and it continued to burn throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Adverse health effects were reported by several people due to the byproducts of the fire, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and a lack of healthy oxygen levels.
In 1992, Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey claimed eminent domain on all properties in the borough, condemning all the buildings within. Very few homes remain standing in Centralia; most of the abandoned buildings have been demolished by humans or nature. At a casual glance, the area now appears to be a field with many paved streets running through it complete with street signs and park benches.
It's our planet - and it's the only one we have.
24 comments:
Centralia is on the local news every so often. Usually during election time they'll report how many votes are cast in the town. As you said, only 7 residents are living there now. Everyone else moved out a long time ago because of the fires burning below the surface. It's a real shame, isn't it? Makes a person stop to think what might be next.
Wow. This is really crazy-weird. How sad too.
Hey...I saw several of your orange friends tonight. Took a pic just for you :-D I'll post in the morning.
Maybe they were trying to build a development too close to Hell.
Oh wow, that's kind of creepy and yet so interesting to read about a real ghost town. Such a shame what those people had to live because of other people's greed.
I have heard of Centralia before, but just last week I was listening to a WNYC RadioLab podcast titled "Cities" and Centralia was one of the stories that connected their "Cities" theme. The podcasts mentioned that cities rarely die, and if I am not mistaken used Centralia's 7 as a searing example of why. We humans apparently place great attachment to the place we know as home.
Very interesting, Iggy! It makes you wonder why, with all the technology, granted maybe not what we have now, but still, that they could not figure out a way to extinguish the fire for such a long time! So sad though that the town became inhabitable. It does look like a very nice area. Must be kind of creepy driving through it......
hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
betty
Hey, that first picture looks like it's in Ireland! All the green. Beautiful.
Wow, so sad. I had no idea and I live in PA. I don't think I have ever heard that story before. Really makes you wonder what things will look in other areas in another 10, 20, 30 years.
It's such a shame that things like this happen. And curious how it took so long for them to manage to put out the fire. I wonder why?
What a strange place and peculiar set of circumstances. Talk about bad vibes, eh? I had never heard of this town. That shot at the beginning looked pretty benign, but then I kept reading...weird!! I always learn new things with your historical posts. :)
You are right. It's our planet - the only one we have. We need to take better care of it. Centralie is a very sad place. I wonder if it will ever be habitable again.
Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Give your mom and dad a hug for me!
Huge hugs!
weird yes...sad ...very..
nicely lined up streets with no houses!? That would be so werid. And I wouldn't want to walk down that road withthe mines under them, how scary! But then again, you made it out alive, so it must not be that bad...
I once read a book talking about uninhabitable places where a few people still live and I remember reading about that town - it would be so sad and weird to actually drive through the town.
That current picture of the main street looks familiar. We used to drive through Centralia to and from Lock Haven where my oldest daughter attended college. I always felt uneasy going through there.
That's depressing. It's like someone important just died.
http://ficklecattle.blogspot.com/
Peat fires often burn like that too..but the peat is out in the boonies and not under a town. It must be like something out of a Stephen King novel..spooky.
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for all the great research you do at Forgotten Old Photos! :)
Very cool post. I had never heard of Centralia. My only question is: why are there still 7 people there?
That's really a shame!
I have never heard of that place before, that is sad and yet very interesting also, thanks for sharing the post :o) HUGS
It's not far from where I live, Lynn...about 80 miles southeast.
That is so sad. I always wonder why some towns become ghost towns. It is awful when things like that happen.
There are some mining towns that are caving in somewhere. My mind is dull tonight so I'm thinking Montana or Wyoming.
Did you take the photo of the smoke coming thru the pavement?
blimey thats well spookie, the 2 photos of the same road.... what a said story, a ghost town, but without the usual tumbleweed ..
x
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