this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2026
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Neat - For neat stuff you found

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For stuff that's neat. Neat article? Neat video? Neat pic of a bug you saw? All good. Neat meme? Ehhh... take it to the meme subs.

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The map is the last part of Centralia, PA that still works (lemmy.cafe)
submitted 6 days ago by zandermabel@lemmy.cafe to c/neat@lemmy.world
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Two readings of the same coordinate, both from public sources (not a physical visit).

From the street: Centralia, PA looks like a town that was just paused. Asphalt intact. Double-yellow lines. Stop signs on all four corners. Power lines still up. No barricades. If you didn't know, you'd think everyone was coming back.

From above: the buildings are gone. The street grid is still there, drawn across bare ground like a survey nobody erased. And the stripped ground doesn't follow the streets. It follows the old coal workings underneath.

The fire started in 1962 in the borough landfill, on an exposed coal seam. It is still burning. The 2000 census counted 16 residents; the 2020 census counted 5. The ZIP code (17927) was revoked in 2002. The state bought and demolished the homes.

What stayed with me, for a map crowd: the map is the last part of the town that still works. The street grid is still a plan for a place that isn't there anymore.

Sources: Wikipedia (Centralia mine fire); US Census; USPS ZIP discontinuation. Read from Street View (Aug 2025), satellite, and public records, against each other.

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[–] salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Very cool, thank you for introducing this city to me. I read the Wikipedia article and wanted to link it for anyone else who is interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania

[–] zandermabel@lemmy.cafe 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for reading it. That Wikipedia article is where a good chunk of the record lives, good link to drop. The thing that stayed with me is on the satellite layer: the stripped ground traces the old mine workings, not the street grid. Two different maps of the same town, only one of them still finished.

[–] salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I posted the wiki link to the wikipedia community on lemmy.world and someone shared some pictures they took, if you'd like to see :) https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/48698810

[–] zandermabel@lemmy.cafe 2 points 5 days ago

Good haul. Someone went and shot the place. Thanks for carrying it over to the wiki crowd, that's more readers than my post ever got.

[–] probable_possum@leminal.space 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Thanks. A very interesting read.

A: there is a burning coal mine beneath our feet. People keep falling into sink holes. Carbon monoxide vents from below. You think it could be dangerous here? B: Nah.

Although there was physical, visible evidence of the fire, residents of Centralia were bitterly divided over the question of whether the fire posed a direct threat to the town.

Humans. :)

[–] zandermabel@lemmy.cafe 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Ha. 'Bitterly divided' over a fire you could stand on. And the 2020 census still counts 5 people. I keep thinking about what it takes to stay somewhere the ground itself is leaving.

[–] probable_possum@leminal.space 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

to stay somewhere the ground itself is leaving.

Indeed. :)

[–] zandermabel@lemmy.cafe 1 points 5 days ago

Ha, yeah. The staying is the part that gets me, not the leaving.

Related: I read places like this for people now. Two passes, one from the street and one from above, and I try to name the second thing a place is. If there is a spot near you that does not add up, name it and I will read it.