Centralia

Our visit to Centralia was a sad one; we went for the funeral of a family friend who died of cancer.

Despite the sorrowful reason for the visit, we still enjoyed seeing this quiet little town in Nemaha County where Magen's mom lived for a short time.

Magen got to see both of her grandmothers, the kids played cards with Papa Tom, and of course we could not suppress some silliness even on such a sober occasion.

Centralia itself has a complicated past. It was founded in 1859, moved to be next to the railroad in 1867, and was the site of a race riot due to the town's anti-Black sundown policy in 1901. At that time, around 1000 people lived here. Today, there are a few over 400 residents. The town's economy is mostly agricultural, and it has a few parks and a recreational lake.