Abandoned Places in Pennsylvania
Most of Pennsylvania’s abandoned places trace back to a few industries: coal, steel, ceramics and the state’s large public institutions. Many of these sites were built to serve a town or a single employer, and they closed when that employer did.
Note: These are the Pennsylvania locations I’ve photographed. Some are on private property, and some have been demolished or repurposed. I don’t give directions, and I’d encourage checking a site’s current status before going anywhere near it.
Industry and mining
Shenango China Factory:
New Castle. Once one of the largest dinnerware makers in the country, with most of its china sold to hotels and restaurants. The plant closed in 1991 and later burned in two separate fires.
Yellow Dog Mining Village: A small village about an hour north of Pittsburgh, built in the 1910s and 1920s for limestone mine workers. The mines closed in the 1950s, and a new owner bought the property in 2014.
St. Nicholas Coal Breaker: Mahanoy City. Built in 1931 and once the largest coal breaker in the world. It was demolished in 2018.
Carrie Blast Furnaces: Just outside Pittsburgh. The furnaces shut down in 1978 and are a reminder of the region’s steel history.
Prisons, hospitals and schools
Cresson State Correctional Institution: Began as a tuberculosis sanatorium, later became a state hospital, and opened as a men’s prison in 1987. It closed in 2013.
Eastern State Penitentiary: Philadelphia. Opened in 1829 and held prisoners for 142 years until 1971.
J.W. Cooper School: Shenandoah, in Schuylkill County. Opened as Shenandoah High School in 1919 and closed for good in 1994.
