Centralia is a borough and a near-ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its population has dwindled from over 1,000 residents in 1980 to only 10 in 2010 as a result of the coal mine fire that has been burning beneath the borough since 1962. Centralia, which is part of the Bloomsburg-Berwick micropolitan area, is the least-populated municipality in Pennsylvania and is completely surrounded by Conyngham Township.

All real estate in the borough was claimed under eminent domain and therein condemned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1992 and Centralia’s ZIP code was discontinued by the Postal Service in 2002. State and local officials reached an agreement with the seven remaining residents on October 29, 2013, allowing them to live out their lives there, after which the rights of their houses will be taken through eminent domain.

St. Patrick’s Church | Erie, PA 2015