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 people living in 29 homes. Byrnesville was founded in 1856. Most of the residents were

Irish Catholics Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...

who worked in the local

anthracite coal Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highe ...

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. Byrnesville was one of the casualties of the

Centralia mine fire The Centralia mine fire is a coal-seam fire that has been burning in the labyrinth of abandoned Coal mining, coal mines underneath the Borough (Pennsylvania), borough of Centralia, Pennsylvania, United States, since at least May 27, 1962. Its o ...

. In late 1983, the

98th United States Congress The 98th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 198 ...

approved $42 million to help move families impacted by the fire. Relocation offers were extended to residents in Byrnesville and Centralia. The last home in Byrnesville was torn down in 1996, which spelled the end for the town. The only remaining structures there as of July 2019 are a religious Shrine to the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

on a hillside by the side of Route 61, an

intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a freight container, (or simply "container") is a large metal crate designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different Mode ...

, and the structural remains of a garage now reclaimed by nature. The present-day routing of

Pennsylvania Route 61 Pennsylvania Route 61 (PA 61) is an state highway that is located in Pennsylvania in the United States. The route is signed north-south despite running in a northwest-southeast direction from U.S. Route 222 Business (Reading, Pennsylvania), U ...

follows the two-lane Byrnesville Road — originally an old logging road through Byrnesville — bypassing a long section of the original route of the four-lane highway which has been heavily damaged by

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

caused by the underground fire.

References

External links

Pictures, History about Byrnesville

{{coord, 40.7959, -76.3392, region:US-PA_type:city, display=title Geography of Columbia County, Pennsylvania Ghost towns in Pennsylvania Destroyed populated places

See also

References

External links