Driving from Chicago down to northwestern Tennessee to go fishing every May takes us right through Cairo, Illinois. A very eerie place of abandoned buildings and faded glory. At one point in the 19th Century Cairo was thought to become the largest city in North America due to its location on the Mississippi River as a epicenter of the shipping industry. Railroads, cars, and later aircrafts ensured that would never come to fruition.
i grew up and still life in cairo, i’m 17 years old, since i’ve been alive cairo has been nothing but shootings, fires, and just all around bad. your not missing out on anything not being here
I just drove through here yesterday on my way back from Florida and was just blown away how abandoned and poor this town was! It was sad I was just in awe and couldn't a town like this existed ! Crazy there's literally nothing there so sad. Thanks for the info I was so curious after driving through it
As a trucker I missed my i24 exit to go back to Nashville. I accidentally went into Missouri on i57 south. I got on my GPS to cut back to i24 and it took my through Cairo. I was shocked with the beauty of the architecture here. It looked like nothing new had been built for 100 years. It made me realize how beautiful buildings and houses used to be. There was stone buildings still. You could see they took rocks and cement to build them. I actually love this town. It has soul to it. It reminds me of middle Tennessee in the 90s.
I visited Vicksburg, Mississippi during their Tricentennial celebration. They have the "VICKSBURG NATIONAL MEMORIAL PARK" in which they have the "USS CAIRO MUSEUM". They have a civil war battleship built in CAIRO, IL. It was there that they explained that the correct pronunciation of CAIRO is actually "CARE - OH". It seems that "CARE-OH" built war ships for the Union Army during the Civil War. It was quite interesting. Anyone from "CARE - OH" should visit the museum given the opportunity.
I learned about this small city from the song "Truck Drivers Prayer" By Red Sovine. I am from Ohio but I am very much enjoyed learning about Cairo and its history. It is sad that is now forgotten and bypassed by the interstate
Flooding was a factor, as we're changes in transportation, but the racial tensions were the final nail in the coffin. Still a beautiful place. Wycliff Kentucky right across the Ohio is small but doing a lot better.
Went down to Tampa and on the way back the highway was shut down, middle of Kentucky google maps rerouted us through Cairo, noticed it was just weird, some new looking shops with lights on at night. Went on to Klondike, saw a gate and a spotlight. Couldnt stop thinking why theres a friggin light tower shining a thin beam of light in 360 degrees constantly rotating in the middle of nowhere. Maps announced the Ohio River. I fell back asleep, this was about 2:00 am this happened , got home in missouri at 5 am.
Due to a bridge renovation, had to drive through during Christmas. Urban decay, depopulation, and poverty-stricken for those unable or unwilling to leave, makes the third world look prosperous.
I'm in Chicago but I really would love to go on a trip here one time just to see what it's like. Does anyone mention the island opposite of the city? I've seen it on maps just wondered if anyone actually checks it out or if it's primarily just a flat plain
Dude go check it out make sure it's during the day. It's a little spooky at dusk when I just drove through it but man it would be a great place to go fishing I just wouldn't stop in the town unless you had a gun
If one could just time travel back in time for a few dsys, it would reveal many things. But the romance surrounding it is like so many bygone places!! It summons up your imagination!!! Good video. Interesting history!😊
I have been through this town many times. Super depressing. Why would it not be awful. No work, only old folks and people too poor to leave. No one is moving there. Just going to get worst.
It is pronounced “Care-0. I have been there many times as my daddy was born in Pulaski. Ill, which is north of Cairo. He was born in 1918. My Davis grandparents married in 1897 and raised 6 children in Pulaski. My daddy, Freddie Davis, went to high school in Mounds, Ill. There was not a lot in Pulaski when I was a child during the 1950’s. My grandparents died in 1960 and 1961 at 84 and 86. Down tow Pulaski there was a post office and a general store owned by Jimmy Curry. There was still a working black smith shop. And my Uncle Peck (Carroll) Davis ran the local barber shop. It was going downhill fast even back then. My Grandad Davis worked for the Illinois Central Railroad retiring in the 1930’s. I was only 12 when my grandparents died. I wish I could have known them longer.
You did good. But also the cargo barge traffic no longer needed stopped in Cairo. A big issue was weather. Technology allowed barges to continue up the Mississippi to St Louis in the winter. Once barges continued year around to St Louis, that was final death nail to train and truck transportation hub supporting Cairo employment. Plus all other supporting employment. 1927 was when my grandfather with Federal Barge pulled out of Cairo and moved to settle operations in St Louis. Bigger than Cairo. Hard to believe in today’s age, the Mississippi river in winter, navigation was often impossible in winter.
On the way from Toronto to Dallas we took a detour to Cairo to see the confluence of the rivers. When we entered the town we were shocked to see a lifeless, abandoned place. Not a person to be seen except cars driving past the town into KY and it was in the afternoon just before the last Christmas. We couldn't see the confluence because the bridge leading to it was under construction or it may be even been abandoned. Truly sad.
I dated someone in Missouri and had to go through this town every time I went to see her. She told me to never stop in that town. I’d I had a flat, to drive on the rim till I got to another town. She said crime, shootings, rape’s happen a lot there. If they know someone is from out of town… they would be robbed or worse. It even looks dangerous.
you sort of left out one of last major economic drivers of the city, it's famous shopping district. Cairo in the 1950s transformed itself as a major shopping mecca, though it's "importance" in transportation industry had faded, it still had a major highway going right by it and the rail road still went through the city making getting to Cairo quite easy and gained a reputation as one of the best small city down town shopping areas in the Midwest. This would come crashing down quite suddenly in the late 1960s with the Great Cairo Riot that lasted well over a year as long disenfranchised black residents tired of being undermined and mistreated protested against segregation in the city and hard nosed white residence unwilling to change the status quo. This created a nasty and bitter standoff between whites and blacks in the city for many years and really never got resolved till the economy of the city collapsed and white residence finally just left in droves throughout the 1970s and 80s as opportunities left the city and anyone who could afford to leave left. This left the city incredibly impoverished and unable to pay for basic services as the tax base essentially disappeared entirely as business after business slowly faded. Finally in just the last few years, the state finally condemned several public housing developments that had been in disrepair for years, pushing many mostly black residence to move out of the city in one last major collapse in population from around 4000 just a few years ago , till it's now at 1700. There are now very few city services, no grocery stores, I am not even sure there's an operational post office in the city anymore. For a city that once boasted a major hospital, this is a massive drop in importance.
When we go fishing in Tennessee every May, the drive from the Chicago area takes us right through Cairo. It is like something out of the twilight zone. A very eerie place of abandoned buildings and faded glory.
@@colenewaltersmusicandother9330 From what I have read the river shipping industry gave way to rail, road, and air in the late 19th and into the 20th century. This devastated Cairo’s economy along with mismanagement of funds by political corruption.
Cairo is a speed trap on the interstate. The law enforcement are out their catching anyone going over the speed limit. I always slow down to 10 miles UNDER the speed limit and refuse to stop there.
I used to drive through here once a week for an out of state project I worked on for a few months. It is creepy. No supermarket. No gas station. Just one convenience store that used to be a gas station and 2 or 3 bars/gambling joints. 50% or more of the buildings are clearly abandoned and have begun to be reclaimed by nature. If you want to see what the world would look like a few years after a global pandemic wipes out most of the worlds population, go to Cairo, IL.
Comegys of Baltimore bought 1,800 acres in southern Illinois in 1817 and named the land “Cairo” in honor of the historic city of the same name on the Nile Delta in Egypt. Comegys hoped to turn Cairo into one of America's great cities, but he died before his plans could be realized. The name, however, stuck.Jul 30, 2024
Cairo is located at the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers; not the Missouri. Accuracy is very important in educational videos. Get it right or don't get it.
What are you talking about? He plainly says "Ohio and Mississippi Rivers" at 6 seconds and shows a map of the Ohio River at 23 seconds. Turn your hearing aid up.
St. Louis in 1870 was nearly 20.5 times as large as Cairo was in 1920 (Cairo's peak), so I'm not entirely sure Cairo was ever destined to be great. And if the narrator doesn't know how to pronounce the town's name, how much can this video be depended on?
It was originally meant to be prounounced Cairo like Egypt when it was founded. But 200 years of hillbillies mispronouncing the word has them insisting its “Kay-row”. It just comes from not being educated. Same folks who say shit like “Ay-rabs” and “Iye-talians”. Its just a hick mispronounciation that has gone too far.
pronounced Kay-Row, not Ki-Row as in Egypt but like everything else in USA, its name reflects stolen legacy, without educating ppl on the origins. Founders said the city resembled Cairo, Egypt.
As a Southern Illinoisan I feel you missed the real reason Cairo became the city it is today.His name is Jesse Jackson and his calls for nightly rioting and burning and looting in the 60s was the death of Cairo.
Theyre so obsessed with politics they cant think straight or look into history, just casually making things up as he goes along. Red towns in red states all over the Midwest look like this, the rural south looks like this. What is dude on about??@@ll4680
Driving from Chicago down to northwestern Tennessee to go fishing every May takes us right through Cairo, Illinois. A very eerie place of abandoned buildings and faded glory. At one point in the 19th Century Cairo was thought to become the largest city in North America due to its location on the Mississippi River as a epicenter of the shipping industry. Railroads, cars, and later aircrafts ensured that would never come to fruition.
i grew up and still life in cairo, i’m 17 years old, since i’ve been alive cairo has been nothing but shootings, fires, and just all around bad. your not missing out on anything not being here
Will you remain in Cairo?
God bless you
That's because you are the true Egyptians
❤John 3,16 ❤
I’ve been there. As soon as you are able pack your stuff and get out
I just drove through here yesterday on my way back from Florida and was just blown away how abandoned and poor this town was! It was sad I was just in awe and couldn't a town like this existed ! Crazy there's literally nothing there so sad. Thanks for the info I was so curious after driving through it
@trucker2011 wasn't it eerie ?what time of day did you go
A tale told many times on the Mississippi. Metro east across the river from St.Louis is a miasma of abandoned depression.
YES omg... my mom and I just rode through there like a week and half ago and I've never seen anything like it in person.... IT was heartbreaking
At one time, Cairo was almost bigger then Chicago, even though you wouldn't believe it.
@jimmyv5730 i believe it, someone had to live in all those abandoned buildings! Craziest eerie place I've ever been
As a trucker I missed my i24 exit to go back to Nashville. I accidentally went into Missouri on i57 south. I got on my GPS to cut back to i24 and it took my through Cairo. I was shocked with the beauty of the architecture here. It looked like nothing new had been built for 100 years. It made me realize how beautiful buildings and houses used to be. There was stone buildings still. You could see they took rocks and cement to build them. I actually love this town. It has soul to it. It reminds me of middle Tennessee in the 90s.
I visited Vicksburg, Mississippi during their Tricentennial celebration. They have the "VICKSBURG NATIONAL MEMORIAL PARK" in which they have the "USS CAIRO MUSEUM". They have a civil war battleship built in CAIRO, IL. It was there that they explained that the correct pronunciation of CAIRO is actually "CARE - OH". It seems that "CARE-OH" built war ships for the Union Army during the Civil War. It was quite interesting. Anyone from "CARE - OH" should visit the museum given the opportunity.
I learned about this small city from the song "Truck Drivers Prayer" By Red Sovine. I am from Ohio but I am very much enjoyed learning about Cairo and its history. It is sad that is now forgotten and bypassed by the interstate
Excellent background music on this video
I may be mistaken but I believe chronic flooding issues also contributed to its decline.
Things that look just like YOU also contributed to its decline.
I think you’re right
In another video on Cairo, the author went down to the levy wall and in 2010 the highwater mark was only a meter or so below the top of the wall.
Flooding was a factor, as we're changes in transportation, but the racial tensions were the final nail in the coffin. Still a beautiful place. Wycliff Kentucky right across the Ohio is small but doing a lot better.
You're not mistaken. This clown missed that completely. Reckon it doesn't sell as well as racism.
I believe it’s pronounced “CAY-row”
That is correct. I visited Cairo last year, the locals saying it differently than the Egyptian capital.
This is correct. It’s not the same pronunciation as the Egyptian city
@@thephotoroad Unlike Memphis. 😆
@Battle Of Trenton ironic how a city and a town named after Egyptian places are located along the Mississippi and are plagued with poverty and crime.
Athens, Illinois is pronounced phonetically, unlike Athens, Greece.
Went down to Tampa and on the way back the highway was shut down, middle of Kentucky google maps rerouted us through Cairo, noticed it was just weird, some new looking shops with lights on at night. Went on to Klondike, saw a gate and a spotlight. Couldnt stop thinking why theres a friggin light tower shining a thin beam of light in 360 degrees constantly rotating in the middle of nowhere. Maps announced the Ohio River. I fell back asleep, this was about 2:00 am this happened , got home in missouri at 5 am.
Due to a bridge renovation, had to drive through during Christmas. Urban decay, depopulation, and poverty-stricken for those unable or unwilling to leave, makes the third world look prosperous.
Most people don't know about this town. Thanks for highlighting it. It was a dump even back in the late 60s.
I'm in Chicago but I really would love to go on a trip here one time just to see what it's like. Does anyone mention the island opposite of the city? I've seen it on maps just wondered if anyone actually checks it out or if it's primarily just a flat plain
Dude go check it out make sure it's during the day. It's a little spooky at dusk when I just drove through it but man it would be a great place to go fishing I just wouldn't stop in the town unless you had a gun
You want to "See what it's like"?????? Save your gas and just drive through Gary, Indiana. Cairo is twice as worse.
@@allenweist4483bro stop i drive through cairo night/day from paducah to drive to Memphis. There is never anybody outside in cairo but old ppl
If one could just time travel back in time for a few dsys, it would reveal many things. But the romance surrounding it is like so many bygone places!! It summons up your imagination!!! Good video. Interesting history!😊
Kay-ro. Not like how they pronounce the city in Egypt.
Ive heard them say kear-ro
By the uneducated violent people that live there. It was literally named after Cairo Egypt.
@@spondulilocals say “care-o” cause their accents
I have been through this town many times. Super depressing. Why would it not be awful. No work, only old folks and people too poor to leave. No one is moving there. Just going to get worst.
It is pronounced “Care-0. I have been there many times as my daddy was born in Pulaski. Ill, which is north of Cairo. He was born in 1918. My Davis grandparents married in 1897 and raised 6 children in Pulaski. My daddy, Freddie Davis, went to high school in Mounds, Ill. There was not a lot in Pulaski when I was a child during the 1950’s. My grandparents died in 1960 and 1961 at 84 and 86. Down tow Pulaski there was a post office and a general store owned by Jimmy Curry. There was still a working black smith shop. And my Uncle Peck (Carroll) Davis ran the local barber shop. It was going downhill fast even back then. My Grandad Davis worked for the Illinois Central Railroad retiring in the 1930’s. I was only 12 when my grandparents died. I wish I could have known them longer.
What a shame, it showed so much potential only to be cast aside when deemed unnecessary.
Someone buy all the land start
I passed thru here on my way down from Ohio to Texas it was cool but spooky place
Being in an area that is prone to flooding probably didn’t help it’s chances either.
My mother was born there. She always said there was gold buried out there. Nobody has found it yet.
You did good. But also the cargo barge traffic no longer needed stopped in Cairo. A big issue was weather. Technology allowed barges to continue up the Mississippi to St Louis in the winter. Once barges continued year around to St Louis, that was final death nail to train and truck transportation hub supporting Cairo employment. Plus all other supporting employment. 1927 was when my grandfather with Federal Barge pulled out of Cairo and moved to settle operations in St Louis. Bigger than Cairo.
Hard to believe in today’s age, the Mississippi river in winter, navigation was often impossible in winter.
On the way from Toronto to Dallas we took a detour to Cairo to see the confluence of the rivers. When we entered the town we were shocked to see a lifeless, abandoned place. Not a person to be seen except cars driving past the town into KY and it was in the afternoon just before the last Christmas. We couldn't see the confluence because the bridge leading to it was under construction or it may be even been abandoned. Truly sad.
I dated someone in Missouri and had to go through this town every time I went to see her. She told me to never stop in that town. I’d I had a flat, to drive on the rim till I got to another town. She said crime, shootings, rape’s happen a lot there. If they know someone is from out of town… they would be robbed or worse. It even looks dangerous.
It’s not that dangerous, during the day at least. Definitely could have saved your rim and changed the tire.
Great video
It's the same thing that killed East St. Louis.
This town is just like me. A former shell of itself whose importance in the past can't be understated
I grew up there, and I love it! Please come attend the Magnolia Celebration May 6th, 2023 - it's awesome!
So why did you not tell him he said Cairo wrong?
you sort of left out one of last major economic drivers of the city, it's famous shopping district. Cairo in the 1950s transformed itself as a major shopping mecca, though it's "importance" in transportation industry had faded, it still had a major highway going right by it and the rail road still went through the city making getting to Cairo quite easy and gained a reputation as one of the best small city down town shopping areas in the Midwest. This would come crashing down quite suddenly in the late 1960s with the Great Cairo Riot that lasted well over a year as long disenfranchised black residents tired of being undermined and mistreated protested against segregation in the city and hard nosed white residence unwilling to change the status quo. This created a nasty and bitter standoff between whites and blacks in the city for many years and really never got resolved till the economy of the city collapsed and white residence finally just left in droves throughout the 1970s and 80s as opportunities left the city and anyone who could afford to leave left. This left the city incredibly impoverished and unable to pay for basic services as the tax base essentially disappeared entirely as business after business slowly faded. Finally in just the last few years, the state finally condemned several public housing developments that had been in disrepair for years, pushing many mostly black residence to move out of the city in one last major collapse in population from around 4000 just a few years ago , till it's now at 1700. There are now very few city services, no grocery stores, I am not even sure there's an operational post office in the city anymore. For a city that once boasted a major hospital, this is a massive drop in importance.
I would like to visit one day
Don’t bother. Isn’t shut there, and you’d be ready to roll out in less than 10 mins.. There is NOTHING there and I mean NOTHING.
I'm from that part of the country. My relatives said ...Kay Row.
A truly forgotten place
When we go fishing in Tennessee every May, the drive from the Chicago area takes us right through Cairo. It is like something out of the twilight zone. A very eerie place of abandoned buildings and faded glory.
@@donnix1192 there has to be some thing else about this town. Something happened there other than the mud flood.
@@colenewaltersmusicandother9330 From what I have read the river shipping industry gave way to rail, road, and air in the late 19th and into the 20th century. This devastated Cairo’s economy along with mismanagement of funds by political corruption.
Everytime I see a city named after something over the pond it reminds me how americas history was stolen, Chicago might be Egypt
Cairo is a speed trap on the interstate. The law enforcement are out their catching anyone going over the speed limit. I always slow down to 10 miles UNDER the speed limit and refuse to stop there.
It's not all bad, Shadow made a stop there and met Mr Jaquel and Mr. Ibis - feel bad for Mad Sweeney though.
Will be famous here in April 08 2024 ,, 🌚
Hope the fault doesn't have seismic activity🤐🍻
As someone else pointed out it it is not pronounced like the city in Egypt. It's pronounced KAY ROW.
I just hope the spirits arise during this eclipse. X marks the spot.
The population is under 1,000 now.
When I lived in Chicago, Black people were warned to stay out of Cairo (pronounced Cay-row).
The problem with Cairo is it's in Illinois.
Agreed I moved the f out
Not a single stoplight, nor stop sign on main drag in town. No reason to stop
So I’m guessing it ain’t got no log ride. 😭
I used to drive through here once a week for an out of state project I worked on for a few months. It is creepy. No supermarket. No gas station. Just one convenience store that used to be a gas station and 2 or 3 bars/gambling joints. 50% or more of the buildings are clearly abandoned and have begun to be reclaimed by nature. If you want to see what the world would look like a few years after a global pandemic wipes out most of the worlds population, go to Cairo, IL.
Comegys of Baltimore bought 1,800 acres in southern Illinois in 1817 and named the land “Cairo” in honor of the historic city of the same name on the Nile Delta in Egypt. Comegys hoped to turn Cairo into one of America's great cities, but he died before his plans could be realized. The name, however, stuck.Jul 30, 2024
Notorious for state police handing out tickets passing through on i57 also
I can describe Cairo, Illinois, in one word: post-apocalyptic.
The correct pronunciation of CAIRO is actually (CARE-OH).
"KAY-ro." Like the corn syrup.
Cairo is located at the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers; not the Missouri.
Accuracy is very important in educational videos.
Get it right or don't get it.
What are you talking about? He plainly says "Ohio and Mississippi Rivers" at 6 seconds and shows a map of the Ohio River at 23 seconds. Turn your hearing aid up.
Missouri State --> Mississippi River ---> Illinois State [Cairo, Illinois] ----> Ohio River ----> Kentucky State
Its pronounced "CARE-ROW.....I know I grew up 10 miles from Cairo back in the sixties
@@FirstLast-qf1df wanna bet??
Yep, I'll bet ya.
In Illinois, it's pronounced KAY - RO
Cay-ro, the correct pronunciation. we do have some odd pronunciations in the midwest
It's Kai row. Cay row sound wrong.
egypt cairo was named after ours buddy the people here already named it that nobody in the us had reason to name it cairo
i want to visit here
So this is the place huh? X marks the spot😏
The railroad… that’s what happened to Cairo IL. (ka-row)
I am from k-row
This is what happens when certain people are left to their own devices.
I NOTICED ON HWY 65 INDIANA SAND STORM= WERE ARE NO TREES THERE??? EGYPT BURNED ALL FOREST ICELAND 2
He comes secretly for bride and 144,000.Then the two witnesses preach message to rest of world
Doesn’t the town flood every year and that’s why people left?
Read the real history why it went under
St. Louis in 1870 was nearly 20.5 times as large as Cairo was in 1920 (Cairo's peak), so I'm not entirely sure Cairo was ever destined to be great.
And if the narrator doesn't know how to pronounce the town's name, how much can this video be depended on?
It's pronouced "Kay-row," not "Ky-row," correct?
It's CAY RO. NOT EGYPTION CAIRO,
It is so. It is the ancient City not that mockery over on the other side just built in the 1800s
I winced everytime you said "Kai-roe", it's "Kay-row"
@@FirstLast-qf1df no, he's not. It's pronounced "Kay-row", like the corn syrup.
And because gambling slowed down a lil
It's pronounced cay-roh
Its was the first reconstruction. 1965 was the second. Money talks.
it's pronounced care-o
Pronounced Kay-ro, not like the Egyptian city.
CAY-row
Those who live there pronounce it care-o
Cairo is pronounced KAY-ro.
It’s pronounced “Kay ro”
Cairo like the syrup. Learn a bit more before taking on such a big project like this one. Cairo is in Egypt not Illinois.
How about CALLING someone in Cairo, Il, and ASK how to pronounce it - - it's KA-RO - - like the SYRUP. - - - - could not listen
NO. CARE__O
It was originally meant to be prounounced Cairo like Egypt when it was founded. But 200 years of hillbillies mispronouncing the word has them insisting its “Kay-row”. It just comes from not being educated. Same folks who say shit like “Ay-rabs” and “Iye-talians”. Its just a hick mispronounciation that has gone too far.
What happened? Not complicated, suicide.
Beautiful area, dead town. Build some casinos, maybe...
wtf am i watching
pronounced Kay-Row, not Ki-Row as in Egypt but like everything else in USA, its name reflects stolen legacy, without educating ppl on the origins. Founders said the city resembled Cairo, Egypt.
You're mispronunciation made me not watch this video
See yah row ... pronunciation
Democrats happened
LOL There's plenty of small towns in Red states that have experienced this but still funny
As usual. Politics ruin everything
As a Southern Illinoisan I feel you missed the real reason Cairo became the city it is today.His name is Jesse Jackson and his calls for nightly rioting and burning and looting in the 60s was the death of Cairo.
Theyre so obsessed with politics they cant think straight or look into history, just casually making things up as he goes along. Red towns in red states all over the Midwest look like this, the rural south looks like this. What is dude on about??@@ll4680
Democrats is what happen, democrats.
By far the most nothing city I’ve ever been to.
Dude literally idk how the he'll people live there I was like what the he'll!