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Welcome to Centralia ...

Centralia is located in Braxton County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Centralia, you might consider that their post office opened in 1892.

When the people of Centralia refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Centralian<2>

Centralia is 1,060 feet [323 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Centralia lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Centralia: 304 & 681<4>

Communities Also Named Centralia ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 16 communities that are also named Centralia - they are located in California, Florida (2), Illinois, Iowa, Kansas (2), Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Centralia.

Communities near Centralia ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Centralia.

  • Sutton
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Gassaway
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Addison
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Addison is located in Webster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Addison
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 660 people
  • Burnsville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Cowen
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Flatwoods
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Camden-on-Gauley
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Camden-on-Gauley is located in Webster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Camden-on-Gauley
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 143 people
  • Big Run
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Big Run is located in Webster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Run
  • Erbacon
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Erbacon is located in Webster County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erbacon
  • McNutt
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • McNutt is located in Braxton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McNutt

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Centralia. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Centralia.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Centralia. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Centralia.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Centralia. See our Newspapers Page for Centralia.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Centralia ...

Looking for more information about Centralia? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Centralia, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Centralia.

Adding Centralia to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Centralia in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Centralia was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Centralia post office opened in 1892. The Centralia post office closed in 1996.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Centralia.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of West Virginia's counties, including Braxton, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Centralia refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a community's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Centralia may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Centralia - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 304 code has been Overlayed with the 681 area code. New phone numbers in the Centralia area will be assigned with one of these codes: 304 or 681. As a result, placing a call in the Centralia area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<6>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/