Centralia, PA in 1962.
Early history: In 1841,
Johnathan Faust opened
Bull's Head Tavern in what
was then Roaring Creek
Township. In 1854, Alexander
Rea, a civil and mining
engineer for the Locust Mtn.
Coal and Iron Company,
laid out streets and lots for development.
Centralia was incorporated in 1866, with
anthracite coal as the main
industry. Coal mining continued until the
1960s, when most of the
companies went out of
business.
Aerial view of Centralia
Strip and open-pit mining is
still active in the area, and
there is an underground mine employing about 40 employees three miles to the west.
Centralia town dump -
This is where the fire started
in 1962. The fire remained burning in the lower depths of the garbage and eventually spread through a hole in the rock pit into the abandoned coal mines beneath the town. All attempts to extinguish the fire have failed, and it's still burning today.
Centralia - the end of the road This is a 1999 photo showing the abandoned highway 61, At one time, the borough had 7 churches, 5 hotels, 27 saloons, 2 movie theatres, a bank, and 14 stores. During most of the borough's history, back in the coal mining days, the town had a population of over 2,000 residents.
On February 14, 1981, the ground collapsed under little Todd Domboski. A hole about 4 feet in diameter and roughly 150 feet deep had opened under him.
He clung to exposed tree roots and was pulled to safety by his cousin.
The heat or the carbon monoxide in the breach would have been sufficient to kill him instantly if he had gone just a little deeper. This is the incident that provoked the first national media attention.
|
|
|
|
Thanks to Louis H. for submitting this!
This place is unusual because: Closed section of Route 61 looks like an earth quake hit this area. This road is hidden behind a 10 foot high dirt mound on your left or right side while driving on route 61 depending on which way you are traveling.
Centralia, PA
The town that's been burning for 40 years -- UNDERGROUND
The inferno started in May of 1962, when
the city fathers hired members of the volunteer fire department to start a fire to "clean up" the town dump.
The trash fire ignited an exposed vein of coal and spread throughout the mines beneath the town. Several attempts have been made and millions of dollars have been spent to extinguish this fire that's still burning after 40 years.
See 360 degree view (video)
Centralia town dump -
where all the trouble began.
Sinkholes are everywhere.
Some, like the one that nearly swallowed a Todd Domboxki
in 1981, are 150 feet deep.
Centralia is deserted today, except for the 11 remaining hold-outs. But many former residents are expected to return in 2016 to open a time capsule buried in 1966 next to the veterans' memorial.
Submit an unusual place ___________
|
Centralia, PA today.
A town of 2,000 in the 1950's, today the population has dwindled to 11.
The hold-outs include the town's 89-year-old mayor, Lamar Mervine, who refuses to leave because, he
says,
"I like it here."
Sinkholes in Hwy 61.
The "problem" wasn't really acknowledged until a series of accidents in the '70s and '80s, including the appear-ance of sinkholes hundreds
of feet deep.
Centralia in the 1970s.
As recently as the '80s, the town still boasted 1,000 residents.
By 1983, the government said the fire was advancing on three or four fronts. Proposed trenching of the area might cost as much as $660 million with no guarantee of success.
A government buy-out was proposed instead of the trenching. In 1984, Congress allocated more than $40 million for relocation efforts, and most residents moved to nearby Mount Carmel and Ashland.
A sign warns of the dangerToday almost everyone has relocated except for a very few families who opted to stay.
They remain despite the fact that the State of Pennsylvania has condemned all the buildings,
and the US Post Office has revoked its zip code of 17927.
The old cemetery is sinking
-- just like everything else
in Centralia. Centralia's cemeteries now have a far greater population than the town, including one on the hilltop that has smoke rising out of it.
To More Unusual Places >> |
|
