Byrnesville, Pennsylvania

Byrnesville was a town located in Conyngham Township, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was located about halfway between Centralia and Ashland. In 1985, the population of Byrnesville was approximately 75.

The clearing that was once Byrnesville

Byrnesville was founded in 1856.[1] Most of the residents were Irish Catholics who worked in the local anthracite coal mines. It was made up of Upper and Lower Byrnesville. The first homes were built in Lower Byrnesville around 1856 and in Upper Byrnesville around 1865. An elementary school was located in Byrnesville but was discontinued in the 1930s.[2]

Byrnesville was one of the casualties of the Centralia mine fire. The last home in Byrnesville was torn down in 1996, which spelled the end for this town. The only remaining structures there as at July 2019 are a religious shrine on a hillside, an intermodal container,[3] and the structural remains of a garage now reclaimed by nature.

The present-day routing of Pennsylvania Route 61 follows what was an old logging road through Byrnesville, bypassing sections of the original route of the four-lane highway which has been heavily damaged by subsidence caused by the underground fire.