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Historic Downtown
Centralia’s downtown features historic architecture, and has seen recent development with of the addition of a Splash Pad near the Centralia Carillon, the renovations of the Illinois Theater, and new restaurants including RAIL Coffee House and Fire Wok Asian Cuisine.

Commercial Historic District
In 2012 the downtown area of Centralia was added to the National Park Service's Nation Register of Historic Places. Notable historic buildings include the former Lagenfield Hotel, Centralia House restaurant, Old National Bank buildings, Sadler Opera House, Centralia Sentinel Building, and the Illinois Theater.

The Langenfield Hotel was "established in 1912 by John Langenfield" and "became the premier hotel in the area." Images of the Lagenfield have been used for postcards featuring Centralia. The name Langenfield was also connected to the historic Langenfield Motor Company buildings.

The Centralia House restaurant has been functioning for over 100 years. It is located directly across from the Illinois Central Railroad tracks and has a long history of catering to the travelers who would pass through Centralia on the train.

The Centralia Sentinel building houses the Centralia Morning Sentinel newspaper and features Egyptian Revival style architecture. This may be connected to Southern Illinois' nickname, "Egypt," or "Little Egypt."

The Illinois Theater in downtown Centralia used to be a vaudeville and movie theatre and is currently undergoing renovations that will enable it to seat 500 and hold professional entertainment performances.

The Centralia Historical Society Museum
The Centralia Historical Society Museum is free to the public and contains three stories of photographs and artifacts from Centralia's extensive history as a major railway hub and mining town.

Other Features
A farmer’s market is held every Saturday from 7 am to 11 am during the spring and summer at the corner of South Locust Street and Second Street. New restaurants and coffee shops have been developing in recent years. Coffee shops include RAIL Coffee Room and Java Joe’s. RAIL has an industrial railroad theme, hearkening to Centralia's Illinois Central Railroad days, and serves specialty coffee drinks, desserts, and sandwiches.

Downtown trolley tours can be scheduled through the City of Centralia.

Parks and Recreation
A 9415 caboose and a rare Republic F-105 Thunderchief aircraft are also on display in the park. ,

In addition to these historic features, Fairview Park includes baseball and softball fields, tennis and sand volleyball courts, a skate park, a swimming pool complex, playgrounds, and picnic shelters.

Centralia Recreational Complex is a 60,000 square foot recreational facility equipped with walking track, indoor basketball courts, two swimming pools, weight rooms, and exercise classrooms.

The Centralia Community Youth Center provides after-school tutoring services, sports clubs including wrestling, chess, dance, Double Dutch jump roping, basketball, and karate. Their mission is to “is to help our community's youth from falling into the traps of today's society: crime, drugs, and gang activity. We do this through positive reinforcement and programs in the most grassroots style of community activism.” They also hosts concerts, camps, and community dinners.

Arts and Culture
The Centralia Cultural Society is a non-profit community arts center located on East Rexford near Foundation Park. Its mission is to “to connect arts with the community and the community with the arts.” The Cultural Society is home to the Centralia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Little Theatre Players, the Choral Society, Bronze Expressions Handbell Ensemble, and hosts periodic galleries by the Light and Lens photography club, and Palette and Brush Club.

The Centralia Philharmonic Orchestra is a non-professional orchestra which performs regular spring, fall, holiday, and winter concerts. Orchestra membership is open to the public.

The Little Theatre Players is a community theatre organization established in 1961. Past shows have included GREASE, Pinocchio, and Steel Magnolias.

Bronze Expressions Handbell Ensemble performs handbell concerts periodically at the Cultural Society. The Light and Lens Club and Palette and Brush Club meet at the Cultural Society and hold periodic galleries showcasing photography and paintings. Centralia High School also holds student art shows at the Cultural Society.[1] [1] https://seecentralia.com/event/centralia-high-school-art-show-2/