Centralia Pennsylvania

Thanks for keeping up the Centralia portion of the site. I check back periodically (every couple of years) to see if there are updates. I am fascinated with the town after having visited there in the 80's when I lived in Binghamton, NY.

Mark

Hello,
I stumbled across your site yesterday afternoon and ended up looking/reading it the rest of the day—fascinating stuff.  Do you know anything about the reasons/motivations for those who stayed to do so? Though I have never visited the area, I can tell it is very scenic, etc, but gathered from your site that the region is dotted with small towns, so even if one had roots there and loved it, a 10 mile move would be feasible. Some of the places higher up look big and old and would be tough to leave, but other houses looked pretty basic/nothing special—as well as dangerous.

My compliments on the photography and ergonomic structure of the site; it was an excellent way to spend an afternoon.

Thanks,
Cliff Thompson
Burnsville, mn
 

Hello, my name is Tracy Kremser and I have lived in RD#3 Catawissa for all of my childhood. I used to go through Centralia with my parents from time to time. Over the years I have watched first hand this town turn into what we now call a "ghost town". I stopped there a few years back just to see for myself just what it is like to be walking on the ground of this underground mine fire. Let me tell you now it was very spooky for me. Just the feel of nobody around is enough to give you the underlying feeling of "hey something is very wrong here!". I did have enough nerve to walk around a bit and I felt the need to pick up a rock from the top of the surface. Let me tell you first hand, do not do this---it will burn you!! It surprised me that so much heat could possibly radiate from this fire. But Centralia is very close to all of us that live nearby in these quiet towns. We care very much for the people that lo st their homes, and we care about those that decided to stay. Either way I say that Centraia should stay on the map just because of it's historic value to Pennsylvania. But I would really like to thank those of you who support this tiny community. It is great to see a fantastic website built for this town. They have been through a lot and the people deserve it. This could have happened to any of the coal mining communities but it didn't. Please do not forget about our tiny town it means a lot to us that live in "small communities". 

Hi,

My name is Francine Price formerly Anoia. I have a couple pictures of myself in the book Slow Burn-one in front of the bonfire that has the effigy of Secretary of Interior James Watts, I was about 7 or 8 when that picture was taken and my brother Jerry who is also in that picture is about 6 or 7.
I also am the girl in the checked pants on the front cover with the Brownie troop.

I grew up with the mine fire and can remember how it always smelled. My family's cemetery plot is near the fence where the mine fire is burning on the other side. I am a geology major at Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. I believe my father and grandfather once told me there is an underground stream running underneath Centralia. It divides the burning side from the side that is not burning. The underground stream i was told about supposedly runs right down the middle of Rt. 61. This is why the fire will never burn towards Aristes or Bloomsburg but instead will burn towards Ashland and Locast Gap.

Anyway, i just thought I'd write you and let you know who I am.

Thanks,
Francine Price

I just want to thank you for posting these pictures. I have been looking for explanations about this for years. My grandmother and grandfather lived in Centralia for most of their lives. Their names were Frank and Clara Schronick. My mother was born and raised here for a good portion of her childhood. I have the fondest memories of spending summers there with them and running up the hill to catch the ice cream man with my "nanny" in tow. We would walk up to the hilltop to go huckleberry picking and yes there was a church there. I would go and help her clean it. We were there every week at service.

The pictures are devastating to look at but not as bad as I thought. She lived on Locust Ave. more towards the gas station that was owned by the Cottington`s. All these people that I know have long since passed on but to look at these pictures it feels as if the town passed on with them. I miss my grandparents dearly and have longed to see what happened to this place I loved so much. Again, thank you for this site so that people will know it did exist and the memories that were made here will never be forgotten by anyone who had a part of it.
Evelyn, 1/8/2002 

Hello: 
Drove through Centralia on Thursday (8/30) on my way back from Bloomsburg. I had been in town a few times over the years to show my kids what what a mine fire had wrought. Our prayers to the hardy souls who have chosen to remain. I guess, in spite of everything there's no place like home.
Chris, 9/4/2001 

   
I am a "transplant" to the northeastern Pennsylvania coal region. I reside in Shenandoah, which is about 15 minutes from Centralia. 

I have been curious about the history of the fire and I find your site and all of the information here very interesting. 

I feel very badly for the people who had to cut their losses and move on because I know full well the situation of trying to get new work around here. I hope all are faring well. 
Kristine, 11/08/2001

   
Hello, I live in Cambridge, England. I wanted to say what a great site you have here. I knew nothing of Centralia until yesterday! I am currently reading "A Walk in the Woods", Bill Bryson's chronicle of walking the Appalachian Trail and learnt about the town and it's misfortune from it. Northern Light search engine through up your site. 
A particular thank you with regard to all the photos, especially the 360 degree ones. They have illuminated Bryson's text for me. I don't think anyone could convey the extent of the degradation with words alone although he is quite near the mark. 
Regards, Paul, England, 11/12/2001 

   
My family and I stumbled upon Centralia back in 1981 while visiting the Ashland Pioneer Coal Mine -driving thru the town of many empty houses, vacant lots, pipes coming out of the ground spewing smoke - a very eerie site. Asked my father about it (he lives in Selinsgrove) and have been touching base ever since - thru the internet or driving in the area whenever we visit. I will always feel a sad connection with the town - and will never forget the sights and smells over the past twenty years -including Rt. 61 and its "fire heaves" before they closed that section. They say that one can not feel the entire impact of the WTC disaster without visiting the site firsthand - this is also true of the Centralia fire! 
Alison Grosso, 11/24/2001

   
Hello my name is Nicole L. Davis Vergara and today is August 11, 2002. Today my husband, four year old daughter and I were in our way home from Knoebel's and I decided to stop with them and see Centralia a bit more closely. My husband is from Mexico and when I first told him about The Centralia Tragedy I don't think he really believed me until he saw things today for himself firsthand close up! I stopped near the cemetery at the edge of town headed toward Ashland down 61South because I saw smoke coming up from the ground. My husband asked what it was and I said get out and take a good smell. You could smell the faint odor of rotten eggs. Next I doubled back to a area where I had seen a sign that I am almost positive was not there the last time we passed through Centralia. The sign was red and white with black lettering warning of the underground mine fire and stated that ground was susceptible to suddenly sinking (or caving) in. We still proceeded though up around this knoll, and all three of us were shocked to see this large charred sinkhole that we will swear on a stack of bibles has gotten substantially larger since the last time we saw it! When we got out we could feel the heat coming up from the ground through our flimsy sandals and at that time decided it was best to venture no further and head back home to Reading, PA. I feel a great sadness when I reflect on everything we saw today, and even more so now that my husband and I together have done some research here on the internet. We are also both appalled by what we feel is the governments lack of support to all the residents past, present and future of Centralia, PA! We also both know now why those few remaining resident's stay no matter what the conditions...Centralia, PA is was and always will be their home!

Respectfully Submitted By,
Mrs.NicoleL.Davis Vergara of Reading, PA
Sunday, August 11, 2002

We planned a visit of almost four weeks to to the U.S. to go to the Fall Carlisle/Hershey PA car show. I was checking out the internet for anything interesting around Carlisle/ York and I came to this fantastic website about Centralia. This is why we visited Centralia.

First of all you can not believe what you are seeing when you walk over the hot pavement and smell the strange smoke that is coming out of the ground the second thing that catches the eye are the totally empty and abandoned streets. You can still see where the houses were, and everything is overgrown by trees bushes etc etc. We only saw one house left just across the Centralia municipal building.  When you see this it is almost unthinkable that this once was a town with 1100+ people.

We visited the Pioneer Coal mine in Ashland PA and what a great way to see, look, feel and smell how people worked
in the early 1900' s in the coalmines. a highly real recommended destination.

We learned that the coal vein (that is burning) goes all the way back to Ashland and it would take hundreds of years to "burn out".  We think Ashland is a typical American "Old Town" that looks great with only one main street and all the houses on the sides of the road. This is a adventure on it's own ..........for us in a very crowded Holland the parts that I really like about America is that they always leave everything as it is and build something new on another place/spot
so that we can still see how it was before!!

Please go and take a look at this great (what was a town) that is now almost a piece of History that is "Burning" since 1961 because maybe when the last people are gone, the government will remove and dig out the whole town to end the mining fire and although it is very tragic to look at it's also Very interesting to learn from.

Best regards From Holland, Jeroen Vervloet

My name is Alinsa, I was born there at Centralia, PA... I have not been there since 1991.
My mother had first hand experiences at Centralia, and matter of fact so did I. Not dealing with The mine fire, it was no trash fire though... everything on 'Silent Hill' was actually, well....... the truth, people there with stupid bad religions, and calling people a witch, my older sister went through that, even though She started the mine fire, by being burned by the Witch-Hunters (Yes that really happened) but whom ever told people it was a Trash Accident, they were wrong (COMPLETELY WRONG!). Bad Experiences yes it was.