Editing Centralia, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
===Early history===
Many of the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribes in what is now Columbia County sold the land that makes up Centralia to [[Province of Pennsylvania|colonial]] agents in 1749 for £500. In 1770, during the construction of the Reading Road, which stretched from [[Reading, Pennsylvania|Reading]] to Fort Augusta (present-day [[Sunbury, Pennsylvania|Sunbury]]), settlers surveyed and explored the land. A large portion of the Reading Road was developed later as [[Pennsylvania Route 61|Route 61]], the main highway east into and south out of Centralia.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=DeKok |first=David |title=Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jzqS72q-v88C&q=Bast+Colliery+Theory&pg=PA22|isbn=9780762758241 |date=October 2009 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield }}</ref>

In 1793, [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]], a hero of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] and a signatory of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], acquired a third of Centralia's valley land. When he declared bankruptcy in 1798, the land was surrendered to the [[First Bank of the United States|Bank of the United States]]. A Philadelphia based sea captain, trader and banker who had been born in France, named [[Stephen Girard]], purchased Morris' lands for $30,000, including 68 tracts east of Morris'. He had learned that there was [[anthracite]] coal in the region.<ref name=":0"/>

The Centralia coal [[Deposition (geology)|deposits]] were largely overlooked before the construction of the Mine Run Railroad in 1854. In 1832, Johnathan Faust opened the Bull's Head Tavern in what was called [[Roaring Creek Township, Pennsylvania|Roaring Creek Township]]; this gave the town its first name, Bull's Head. In 1842, Centralia's land was bought by the Locust Mountain Coal and Iron Company. Alexander Rae, a mining engineer, moved his family in and began planning a village, laying out streets and lots for development. Rae named the town Centreville, but in 1865 changed it to Centralia because the [[United States Post Office Department|U.S. Post Office]] already had a Centreville in [[Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania|Schuylkill County]]. The Mine Run Railroad was built in 1854 to transport coal out of the valley.<ref name="DeKok">{{cite book |title=Unseen Danger; A Tragedy of People, Government, and the Centralia Mine Fire |last=DeKok |first=David |year=1986 |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |location=Philadelphia |isbn=978-0-595-09270-3 |page=17}}</ref>

=== Mining begins ===
{{more citations needed|section|date=May 2017}}
[[File:Censign b.jpg|thumb|220px]]

The first two mines in Centralia opened in 1856, the Locust Run Mine and the Coal Ridge Mine. Afterward came the Hazeldell Colliery Mine in 1860, the Centralia Mine in 1862, and the Continental Mine in 1863. The Continental was located on Stephen Girard's former estate. Branching from the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad]], the [[Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad]] was constructed to Centralia in 1865; it enabled transport and expansion of Centralia's coal sales to markets in eastern Pennsylvania.<ref name=":0"/>

Centralia was incorporated as a borough in 1866. Its principal employer was the [[anthracite coal]] industry. Alexander Rae, the town's founder, was murdered in his buggy by members of the [[Molly Maguires]] on October 17, 1868, during a trip between Centralia and [[Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania|Mount Carmel]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://library.bloomu.edu/Archives/SC/MollieMaguires/mollieindex.htm|title=The Murder of Alexander W. Rea|website=library.bloomu.edu}}</ref> Three men were eventually convicted of his death and were hanged in the county seat of [[Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania|Bloomsburg]], on March 25, 1878.

Several other murders and incidents of  [[arson]] also took place during the violence, as Centralia was a hotbed of Molly Maguires activity during the 1860s to organize a mineworkers union in order to improve wages and working conditions. A legend among locals in Centralia tells that Father Daniel Ignatius McDermott, the first [[Roman Catholic]] priest to call Centralia home, cursed the land in retaliation for being assaulted by three members of the Maguires in 1869. McDermott said that there would be a day when St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church would be the only structure remaining in Centralia. Many of the Molly Maguires' leaders were hanged in 1877, ending their crimes. Legends say that a number of descendants of the Molly Maguires still lived in Centralia up until the 1980s.<ref name=":0"/>

According to numbers of federal census records, the town of Centralia reached its maximum population of 2,761 in 1890. At its peak, the town had seven churches, five hotels, 27 saloons, two theaters, a bank, a post office, and 14 general and grocery stores. Thirty-seven years later the production of anthracite coal had reached its peak in Pennsylvania. In the following years, production declined, as many young miners from Centralia enlisted in the military when the US entered [[World War I]].

The [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]] resulted in the Lehigh Valley Coal Company closing five of its Centralia-local mines. [[Bootleg mining|Bootleg miner]]s continued mining in several idle mines, using techniques such as what was called "pillar-robbing," where miners would extract coal from coal pillars left in mines to support their roofs. This caused the collapse of many idle mines, further complicating the prevention of the mine fire in 1962. Efforts to seal off the abandoned mines ran into the collapsed areas.

In 1950, Centralia Council acquired the rights to all anthracite coal beneath Centralia through a state law passed in 1949 that enabled the transaction. That year, the federal census counted 1,986 residents in Centralia.

[[Coal mining]] continued in Centralia until the 1960s, when most of the companies shut down. Bootleg mining continued until 1982, and [[Strip mining|strip]] and [[open-pit mining]] are still active in the area. An underground mine about three miles to the west employs about 40 people.
[[File:PA CENTRALIA OLD b.jpg|thumb|right|Centralia area showing conditions before mine fire]]

Rail service ended in 1966. Centralia operated its own school district, including elementary schools and a high school. There were also two [[Catholic school|Catholic parochial schools]]. By 1980, it had 1,012 residents. Another 500 or 600 lived nearby.<ref name="Krajick" />

=== Mine fire ===
{{Main|Centralia mine fire}}
[[Image:Old Mine Fire 1969.jpg|thumb|right|A small part of the Centralia mine fire as it appeared after being exposed during an excavation in 1969]]

====Triggers====
Analysts disagree about the specific cause of the Centralia fire. David Dekok, author of ''Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire'', concluded that it started with an attempt to clean up the town landfill. In May 1962, the Centralia Borough Council hired five members of the volunteer fire company to clean up the town landfill, located in an abandoned [[surface mining|strip-mine pit]] next to the [[Independent Order of Odd Fellows|Odd Fellows]] Cemetery just outside the borough limits. This had been done prior to [[Memorial Day]] in previous years, when the landfill was in a different location.

On May 27, 1962, the firefighters, as they had in the past, set the dump on fire and let it burn for some time. Unlike in previous years, however, the fire was not fully extinguished. An unsealed opening in the pit allowed the fire to enter the labyrinth of abandoned coal mines beneath Centralia.<ref>David Dekok, ''Unseen Danger'' and successor edition, ''Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire''</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2017}}

By contrast, other sources<ref>{{cite web|last=Quigley|first=Joan|title=''The Day the Earth Caved In'' |url=http://www.thedaytheearthcavedin.com/|access-date=March 13, 2020|page=8|format=www|year=2007}}</ref> claim that the fire had started the previous day, when a trash hauler dumped hot ash or coal discarded from coal burners into the open trash pit. The author of ''The Day the Earth Caved In'' noted that borough council minutes from June 4, 1962, referred to two fires at the dump and that five firefighters had submitted bills for "fighting the fire at the landfill area." The borough, by law, was responsible for installing a fire-resistant clay barrier between each layer of the landfill,<ref>{{cite web|title=Abandoned Mines in Pennsylvania|url=http://www.mbm-law.net/newsletter-articles/subsidence-abandoned-mines-in-pennsylvania/1224/|website=Maiello, Brungo & Maiello|date=February 9, 2007|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref> but fell behind schedule, leaving the barrier incomplete. This allowed the hot coals to penetrate the coal seam underneath the pit and start the subsequent subterranean fire.<ref name="Quigley">{{cite book |last=Quigley |first=Joan |title=The Day the Earth Caved In: An American Mining Tragedy |location=New York |publisher=Random House |year=2007 |url=https://archive.org/details/dayearthcavedina00quig |isbn=978-1-4000-6180-8 |url-access=registration }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Quigley |first=Joan |title=Chapter Notes to ''The Day the Earth Caved In'' |url=http://www.thedaytheearthcavedin.com/chapter_notes_2007.doc |access-date=March 13, 2012 |page=8 |format=DOC |year=2007}}</ref>

Another theory proposes that the Bast Colliery fire of 1932 was never fully extinguished, and that fire reached the landfill area by 1962; however, a miner named Frank Jurgill Sr. disputes that theory. Jurgill claims he operated a bootleg mine with his brother near the landfill from 1960 to 1962. If the Bast Colliery fire had not been extinguished, the brothers would likely have been overcome or killed by the noxious gases via many interconnected tunnels in the area.<ref name=":0"/>

====Immediate effects====
In 1979, locals became aware of the scale of the problem when a [[Filling station|gas-station]] owner, then-mayor John Coddington, inserted a dipstick into one of his underground tanks to check the fuel level. When he withdrew it, it seemed hot. He lowered a thermometer into the tank on a string and was shocked to discover that the temperature of the gasoline in the tank was {{Convert|172|°F|°C|1|lk=on}}.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/06/04/centralia_a_town_in_pennsylvania_destroyed_by_a_mine_fire.html |title=How an Underground Fire Destroyed an Entire Town |journal=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |access-date=August 2, 2014 |last=Morton |first=Ella|date=June 4, 2014 }}</ref>

Statewide attention to the fire began to increase, culminating on February 14, 1981, when a 12-year-old resident named Todd Domboski fell into a [[sinkhole]], {{convert|4|ft|m}} wide by {{Convert|150|ft|m}} deep, that suddenly opened beneath his feet in his grandmother’s backyard, but saved himself by grabbing onto a tree root. His cousin, 14-year-old Eric Wolfgang, pulled Domboski out of the hole to safety. The plume of hot steam billowing from the hole was tested and found to contain a lethal level of [[carbon monoxide]].<ref name="csmonitor">{{cite news |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Bright-Green/2010/0205/Centralia-Pa.-How-an-underground-coal-fire-erased-a-town |title=Centralia, Pa.: How an underground coal fire erased a town |work=The Christian Science Monitor |access-date=August 5, 2013 |first=Eoin |last=O'Carroll}}</ref> At the time of the sinkhole collapse, U.S. Rep. [[James Nelligan]] and Governor [[Dick Thornburgh]] were visiting the town to assess the area.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dozen Families Must Flee Mine Fire Area |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81537938/nelligan-centralia/ |newspaper=York Daily Record |date=February 17, 1981 |page=3 |access-date=July 16, 2021}}</ref>

Although there was physical, visible evidence of the fire, residents of Centralia were bitterly divided over the question of whether or not the fire posed a direct threat to the town. In ''The Real Disaster is Above Ground,'' Steve Kroll-Smith and Steve Couch identified at least six community groups, each organized around varying interpretations of the amount and kind of risk posed by the fire. In 1983, the [[U.S. Congress]] allocated more than $42 million for relocation efforts.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Amos|first1=Owen|title=The church that thrives in a ghost town|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42781736|access-date=January 25, 2018|work=BBC News|date=January 25, 2018}}</ref> Nearly all of the residents accepted the government's buyout offers. More than 1,000 people moved out of the town and 500 structures were demolished. By 1990, the census recorded 63 remaining residents.<ref name="Rubinkam" />

In 1992, Pennsylvania governor [[Robert P. Casey|Bob Casey]] invoked [[eminent domain]] on all property in the borough, condemning all the buildings within. A subsequent legal effort by residents to overturn the action failed. In 2002, the [[U.S. Postal Service]] discontinued Centralia's ZIP code, 17927.<ref name="Krajick"/><ref name="Currie">{{cite news |last=Currie |first=Tyler |date=April 2, 2003 |title=Zip Code 00000 |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2003/04/02/AR2005033108150.html |access-date=December 19, 2009}}</ref> Only 16 homes were still standing by 2006, which was reduced to eleven by 2009 when Governor [[Ed Rendell]] began the formal eviction of the remaining Centralia residents. Only five homes remained by 2010.<ref name="Rubinkam" />

The Centralia mine fire extended beneath the village of [[Byrnesville, Pennsylvania|Byrnesville]], a short distance to the south, and required it also to be abandoned.<ref>{{cite news |last=Holmes |first=Kristin E. |url=http://articles.philly.com/2008-10-21/news/25263632_1_shrine-mine-fire-byrnesville |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204071259/http://articles.philly.com/2008-10-21/news/25263632_1_shrine-mine-fire-byrnesville |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 4, 2014 |title=Minding a legacy of faith: In an empty town, a shrine still shines |publisher=Philly.com |date=October 21, 2008}}</ref>

===Condemnation and abandonment===
[[Image:Centralia smoke rising b.jpg|thumb|Toxic gas and smoke rising from the ground above the underground fire in 2006]]
{{multiple image
 | footer = Separated [[Duplex (building)|duplex]] houses: brick buttresses were added to support the shared wall after removal of the attached house; an unbuttressed side of a similar house on an otherwise deserted street
 | image1 = Standalone row house in Centralia, Pennsylvania b.jpg
 | alt1 = A semi-detached house separated from its attached neighbor with five buttresses being used to support the shared wall after the attached house was removed
 | image2 = A370, Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA, solitary house, 2008 b.jpg
 | alt2 = and an unbuttressed side of a similar house on an otherwise deserted street with a single street light on a utility pole
}}
[[Image:PA 61 Centralia and Byrnesville.jpg|thumb|1999 photo showing the abandoned highway and its replacement]]

The underground fire is still burning, and in 2006 it was reported that it is expected to do so for another 250 years.<ref name="csmonitor"/>  The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania did not renew the relocation contract at the end of 2005.<ref>''[[Reading Eagle]]'', January 3, 2006</ref> The only indications of the fire, which underlies some {{convert|400|acre|ha}} spreading along four fronts, are low round metal steam vents in the south of the borough. Additional smoke and steam can be seen coming from an abandoned portion of [[Pennsylvania Route 61]], the area just behind the hilltop cemetery, and other cracks in the ground scattered about the area. Several signs warn of underground fire, unstable ground, and dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. 

====Town and Residents====

Few homes remain standing in Centralia. Most of the abandoned buildings have been demolished by the [[Columbia County Redevelopment Authority ]] or reclaimed by nature. At a casual glance, the area now appears to be a field with many paved streets running through it. Some areas are being filled with new-growth forest. 

The last remaining house on Locust Avenue was demolished in September 2007. It was notable for a period for the five chimney-like support [[buttress]]es along each of two opposite sides of the house. The house had formerly been supported by a row of adjacent buildings. Another house with similar buttresses was visible from the northern side of the cemetery, just north of the burning, partially subsumed hillside.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/ghosttown.htm |title=A modern day Ghost Town, Centralia Pennsylvania |access-date=October 10, 2007}}</ref>

Residents John Comarnisky and John Lokitis, Jr., were evicted in May and July 2009, respectively. In May 2009, the remaining residents mounted another legal effort to reverse the 1992 eminent domain claim.<ref>"Few remain as 1962 Pa. coal town fire still burns," Yahoo News, February 5, 2010</ref> In 2010, only five homes remained as state officials tried to vacate the remaining residents and demolish what was left of the town. In March 2011, a federal judge refused to issue an injunction that would have stopped the condemnation.<ref name="Beauge" />

In February 2012, the Commonwealth Court ruled that a declaration of taking could not be re-opened or set aside on the basis that the purpose for the condemnation no longer exists; seven people, including the borough council president, had filed suit claiming the condemnation was no longer needed because the underground fire had moved and the air quality in the borough was the same as that in [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]].<ref name="Beauge" /> In October 2013, the remaining residents settled their lawsuit, receiving $218,000 in compensation for the value of their homes, along with $131,500 to settle additional claims, and the right to stay in their homes for the rest of their lives.<ref name=agreement/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pa-residents-living-above-mine-200344503.html |title=Pa. residents living above mine fire free to stay |date=October 31, 2013 |last=Rubinkam |first=Michael |publisher=Associated Press |via=Yahoo Finance |access-date=November 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305044446/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pa-residents-living-above-mine-200344503.html |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Image:Cent 46 b.jpg|thumb|A [[berm]] blocks entry to the abandoned section of Route 61]]
[[File:A421, Centralia, Pennsylvania, USA, Route 61, abandoned section above coal mine fire, 2016 b.jpg|thumb]]
[[File:Graffiti Highway - Centralia, Pennsylvania (2019) b.jpg|thumb|right|Drone photo of the former "Graffiti Highway" near Centralia in 2019, before it was mostly buried by several hundred access-denial [[berm]]s <!-- confirm: https://maps.app.goo.gl/dH4XBpKymU4WKFJ79 --> ]]

====Route 61====

[[Pennsylvania Route 61]] was repaired several times until it was closed. Smoke and steam caused extensive cracking in the pavement, which led to frequent closure. The current route was formerly a detour around the damaged portion during the repairs and became a permanent route in 1993. The damaged portion of [[Pennsylvania Route 61|PA Route 61]] was abandoned, and became known as Graffiti Highway.<ref>{{cite web|title=Help Cleanup Centralia! 5th Annual Cleanup Day: October 20, 2018|url=https://www.centraliapa.org/help-cleanup-centralia-5th-annual-cleanup-day-october-20-2018/|website=centralitapa.org|date=August 21, 2018|access-date=June 5, 2019}}</ref>  Access berms were placed at both ends of the former route, effectively blocking off the area permanently to vehicular traffic. Pedestrian traffic was still possible due to small openings about two feet wide at the northern and southern terminus of the abandoned stretch of road. 

In April 2020, amidst the early part of the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], the property's current owners made the decision to cover over the graffiti on the highway section of old Route 61. Several hundred mounds of dirt were laid over the area, thus ending a decades-long fascination with the desolate stretch of road.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/04/centralias-graffiti-highway-is-finally-getting-the-big-eraser.html |title=Centralia's 'Graffiti Highway' is finally getting erased |date=April 6, 2020}}</ref> [[Google Maps]] overhead satellite-view imagery copyright-dated 2023 shows the former Graffiti Highway almost entirely buried under hundreds of access-denial [[berm]]s.[https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7962779,-76.3432451,296m/data=!3m1!1e3]

===Time capsule===
The town's residents and former residents decided to open a [[time capsule]] buried in 1966 a couple of years earlier than planned after someone had attempted to unearth and steal the capsule in May 2014. The capsule was not scheduled to be opened until 2016 (50 years after it was buried). Items found in the [[Footlocker (luggage)|footlocker]]-sized capsule, which had been inundated with about {{convert|12|in|cm}} of water, included a miner's helmet, a miner's lamp, some coal, a Bible, local souvenirs, and a pair of [[bloomers]] signed by the men of Centralia in 1966.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.centraliapa.org/centralia-pennsylvania-time-capsule-opened-early-2014/ |title=Centralia PA Time Capsule Opened Early |date=October 5, 2014 |access-date=March 14, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.centraliapa.org/centralia-time-capsule-opened-2016/ |title=Centralia Time Capsule to be Opened in 2016 [see Update: The Centennial Vault time capsule was opened in 2014] |date=September 5, 2014 |access-date=March 14, 2016}}</ref>