Pennsylvania's abandoned landscape is one of the richest in America — an entire town built over a coal mine fire that has been burning since 1962, a 1908 institution for the disabled where abuse was documented on national television by Geraldo Rivera, a Victorian asylum designed with Quaker therapeutic principles and the steel industry ruins of a valley that once made half the world's steel. Here are 5 of the best abandoned places in Pennsylvania, selected from our Abandoned Places Map USA — 5,000+ GPS locations across the United States.
Why Pennsylvania Is a Hidden Gem for Abandoned Buildings & Urban Exploration
Pennsylvania's urbex landscape spans coal mining ghost towns in the east, steel mill ruins in Pittsburgh and along the Monongahela Valley, Victorian psychiatric campuses in the countryside and the most dramatic environmental abandonment in the eastern United States at Centralia. The state has more documented abandoned places than almost any other east of the Mississippi.
1. Centralia – Coal Mine Fire Burning Since 1962, Entire Town Evacuated, Steam Rising from Cracked Streets, Columbia County (Known Location)
In 1962, a fire was deliberately set in a Centralia landfill located in an abandoned strip mine pit — and ignited a coal seam that has been burning ever since, 60 years underground and counting. By the 1980s the fire was undermining roads, releasing carbon monoxide into homes and opening sinkholes that nearly swallowed a 12-year-old boy. Congress allocated $42 million to relocate residents; the town's population fell from 1,100 to a handful of holdouts who refused to leave. Route 61 — the main highway through town — was closed when the pavement cracked and buckled; the abandoned stretch of broken asphalt, covered in warning signs and graffiti, is the most-visited site. Steam still rises from the ground above the fire. The inspiration for the video game and film Silent Hill. One of the most extraordinary abandoned places in Pennsylvania.
🔗 Learn more: Wikipedia – Centralia, Pennsylvania
2. Pennhurst State School and Hospital – 1908 Institution Exposed by Geraldo Rivera in 1968, Closed 1987, 28 Buildings Still Standing, Chester County (Known Location)
Opened in 1908 as the Eastern Pennsylvania Institution for the Feeble-Minded and Epileptic, Pennhurst rapidly became overcrowded and underfunded — a 1968 investigative television report by Geraldo Rivera documented residents lying in their own waste, physically restrained and receiving no education or therapy. The resulting public outrage contributed directly to the deinstitutionalization movement and the passage of federal disability rights legislation. Pennhurst closed in 1987. Twenty-eight buildings still stand on the campus in East Vincent Township — ward corridors with original fixtures, the underground tunnel network and the institutional architecture of a facility that defined an era. One of the most historically significant abandoned places in Pennsylvania.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Best Abandoned Places in the USA →
3. Abandoned Anthracite Coal Breaker – 1890s-1920s Coal Processing Tower Still Standing Above the Scranton Valley, Lackawanna County (Exclusively on Our Map)
Pennsylvania's anthracite coal fields powered the Industrial Revolution — and the coal breakers, the distinctive multi-story timber and iron structures where coal was sorted and graded by young boys called "breaker boys," are among the most architecturally striking industrial ruins in the Northeast. A Lackawanna County breaker from the 1890s-1920s still stands above the valley, its timber frame construction preserved by the dry interiors and the sheer scale of the structure keeping it standing despite decades of abandonment. One of the best abandoned places in Pennsylvania for coal era industrial archaeology in a dramatic valley setting. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map USA.
4. Abandoned Allentown State Hospital – 1912 Kirkbride Campus in Advanced Decay, Multiple Buildings Still Standing, Lehigh County (Exclusively on Our Map)
Opened in 1912 as a state psychiatric hospital on the Kirkbride Plan in Lehigh County, the Allentown State Hospital operated for nearly a century before progressive deinstitutionalization and facility consolidation left the original buildings in advancing decay. The Victorian ward buildings, administration tower and infrastructure of a self-sustaining therapeutic campus still stand across the hospital grounds in various states of abandonment — original ward fixtures, underground steam tunnels and the institutional architecture of Progressive Era psychiatric idealism. One of the best abandoned places in Pennsylvania for Kirkbride-era psychiatric campus photography. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map USA.
5. Abandoned Monongahela Valley Steel Mill – 1890s-1980s Integrated Steel Complex, Casting Floors and Overhead Cranes Still in Place, Westmoreland County (Exclusively on Our Map)
The Monongahela Valley south of Pittsburgh was the steel capital of the world — and when the mills closed in the 1980s they left behind an extraordinary concentration of industrial ruins. A Westmoreland County integrated steel mill complex from the 1890s-1980s retains its casting floor with the original ladle crane overhead still frozen in position, the rolling mill building with railroad tracks still embedded in the floor and the blast furnace infrastructure partially standing above the river. One of the best abandoned places in Pennsylvania for steel era industrial photography in the Mon Valley's dramatic river setting. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map USA.
Safety Tips for Urban Exploration in Pennsylvania
- Centralia gas hazard: carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide can accumulate near ground fissures at Centralia — never approach steam vents or ground openings and leave immediately if you feel dizzy or disoriented
- Asbestos: universal in Pennsylvania's pre-1980 coal and steel industrial buildings — always wear an FFP2 mask
- Never explore alone — always bring at least one other person and let someone know your location
The urbex code applies everywhere: "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."
❓ FAQ – Abandoned Places in Pennsylvania
What is the most famous abandoned place in Pennsylvania?
Centralia — a coal mining town where a 1962 landfill fire ignited an underground coal seam that is still burning today. The town's population fell from 1,100 to a handful of holdouts; Route 61 was closed when the pavement cracked; steam still rises from fissures in the ground. Centralia inspired the Silent Hill video game and film franchise.
What is Pennhurst State School?
A 1908 institution for the developmentally disabled in Chester County that became notorious for systematic abuse and neglect. A 1968 Geraldo Rivera television investigation documenting the conditions contributed directly to federal disability rights legislation. Pennhurst closed in 1987; 28 buildings still stand on the campus.
What were breaker boys?
Children — some as young as eight — who worked in Pennsylvania's anthracite coal breakers, picking slate and impurities from coal as it cascaded down the processing chutes. Working conditions were dangerous and the hours were long; breaker boy labor was common until child labor laws of the early 20th century ended the practice. The coal breaker buildings where they worked are among the most historically significant industrial ruins in Pennsylvania.
🎯 Summary
Pennsylvania's abandoned buildings range from a town built over a coal fire burning for 60 years, to an institution whose abuse conditions changed American disability law and coal breaker towers where children sorted coal in the 1900s. Each of these 5 abandoned places in Pennsylvania captures a different layer of a state shaped by coal, steel and the extraordinary human cost of building the industrial foundation of modern America.
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