[11] Many of the Native American tribes in what is now Columbia County sold the land that makes up Centralia to colonial agents in 1749 for £500.

A large portion of the Reading Road was developed later as Route 61, the main highway east into and south out of Centralia.

[12] In 1793, Robert Morris, a hero of the Revolutionary War and a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, acquired a third of Centralia's valley land.

Alexander Rae, a mining engineer, moved his family in and began planning a village, laying out streets and lots for development.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An unsealed opening in the pit allowed the fire to enter the labyrinth of abandoned coal mines beneath Centralia.

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.

[12] In 1979, locals became aware of the scale of the problem when a gas-station owner, then-mayor John Coddington, inserted a dipstick into one of his underground tanks to check the fuel level.

The plume of hot steam billowing from the hole was tested and found to contain a lethal level of carbon monoxide.

[20] At the time of the sinkhole collapse, U.S. Rep. James Nelligan and Governor Dick Thornburgh were visiting the town to assess the area.

[23] In 1992, Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey invoked eminent domain on all property in the borough, condemning all the buildings within.

[7][24] 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.

[23] The Centralia mine fire extended beneath the village of Byrnesville, a short distance to the south, and required it also to be abandoned.

[26] The only indications of the fire, which underlies some 400 acres (160 ha) spreading along four fronts, are low round metal steam vents in the south of the borough.

Another house with similar buttresses was visible from the northern side of the cemetery, just north of the burning, partially subsumed hillside.

[29] 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.

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.

[32] Google Maps overhead satellite-view imagery copyright-dated 2023 shows the former Graffiti Highway almost entirely buried under hundreds of access-denial berms.

[33][34] Several current and former Centralia residents believe the state's eminent domain claim was a plot to gain the mineral rights to the anthracite coal beneath the borough.

[citation needed] At that point, the mineral rights, which are owned by the Borough of Centralia, would revert to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

[44] The building hosts the annual Centralia Cleanup Day, when volunteers collect illegally dumped trash in the area.

[46] Volunteers planted 250 apple trees around Centralia to restore the town's ecosystem and wildlife habitats in April 2021.

A geological survey found there was solid rock, not coal, under the church so it is not in danger of collapse due to the fire.

[52] Screenwriter Roger Avary researched Centralia while working on the screenplay for the Silent Hill film adaptation.