Sixty Years Later, Historic Centralia Still Smolders

By: Michael Thomas Leibrandt

If you live in central Pennsylvania, you may have heard stories of the fire in Centralia. It’s actually still burning today.

That’s right. Centralia, Columbia County, is on fire and has been for over 60 years.

The exact source of the fire is debated, however most historians agree that it began in May/June of 1962 when a strip mine dump was incinerated during a waste cleanup and spread to the borough’s underground mines.

Long before European arrival, native Americans settled in and around what is now Centralia and sold the land to colonials in 1749. Around 1770, the Reading Road was being developed from Fort Augusta to Reading. The road would later become Route 61, the main thoroughfare through town. Mining began in Centralia in 1856. Centralia was an organizing point for the Molly MaGuires during the 1860s for better wages and working conditions for miners.

The extent of the fire became evident in 1979 when temperature readings were taken on tanks of underground gas at the local Centralia gas station. The extreme temperature of the underground gas caused the fuel station to close. In 1981, a local boy fell into a sinkhole of smoke while in a residential neighborhood and had to be quickly pulled out.

Attempts were made to extinguish the fire at great cost. By 1983, the US Congress provided $42 Million to relocate the residents. Over the next decade, over 1,000 or Centralia’s once 1,500 residents had accepted government buyouts. At its height, Centralia had over 2,700 residents in the late 1800s.

In the 1980s and 1990s, almost all the borough’s buildings including vacant homes were demolished. The state of Pennsylvania claimed eminent domain in 1992, and subsequently condemned all buildings in the town. In 1990, only 63 residents remained in Centralia. The United States Postal Service discontinued the town’s Zip Code in 2002.

 

Above is the 800 block of N. Paxton Street looking north from North Street in 1986. Photo Credit, Offroaders.com- Below is the same corner looking north on N. Paxton Street in 200

In 2013, officials reached an agreement with the last remaining seven local residents to allow them to stay in Centralia until their deaths at which time their properties would become eminent domain. After the death of Centralia’s last Mayor, the position has remained vacant.

The 2020 Census listed five residents still living in Centralia.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington, PA