@brell 2-1-5 True. However, outsiders think of Illinois as being nothing but Chicago suburbs, thus "northern". Pretty much once you get south of I-64, that part of Illinois has more of a southern culture.
Gonna take a lot of $$$ and a lot of cooperation from the city council, mayor and law enforcement to protect it. What I don't get is why at least some do-gooder organization hasn't established a food co-op like the ones that popped up during the recessions of the 1970's and 1980's. Food was sold at about 1% over cost and members of the community worked there pro-bono.
I had never even heard of Cairo, Illinois, until I drove through it a couple of days ago. I wish I'd thought to record what I was seeing, but I was just staring, almost in shock. I've not found videos on UA-cam showing this, but there are some of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen in Cairo. People tend to want to record themselves breaking into old houses and showing us couch cushions and that is sad. Has anyone ever been on what was known as Millionaire's Row in Cairo? I was just shocked; no other word for it. Very sad. Yes, there is abandoned squalor, but there is also abandoned beauty. Such a waste.
I had almost the exact same experience. I'm from the Chicago region and was driving down to Tennessee and went through Cairo. I had to stop and look around because even though you can tell that the town has seen better days, you could also tell it has some amazing history. Of course a few days later UA-cam starts recommending me these videos.
when I was 9 years old , in 1956 I remember going to Cairo, Il to sing in church, I had a whole quarter, soI snuck out of church to by a Pop, I went into a restaurant and sat at the soda fountain bar, the waitress, notified three White men , they chased me out of the restaurant, I ran and hid in an alley, Please I was lost, Somehow, I found my way back to the church, I've never been to Cairo again..
Born and raised just on the outskirts of Cairo Illinois; I love the area but my heart breaks because of the selfish and neglectful management of previous administration. Greed, corruption, prejudice and government distrust seem to be forever found in the soil Cairo was built on. In God We Trust. God bless Cairo, Illinois & Alexander County. (Thanks for your video)
it is truly a small world, here i am in a coffee shop downtown chicago with my favorite girl watching this nice video , i was suprised to see someone i know interested in the history of cairo and southren illinois.i agree with you 100% in what you said, the politicians down there and in springfield should be ashame of themselves for letting cairo get like it is. the money "Millions" they spent on that prison in tamms that closed after a few years should have been invested in cairo, every time i go home i drive through cairo. i love it, the ohio river and the mississppi river kentucky or mssouri which way you wanna go? i still believe some day a company will see the potential in that location......... vincent lagrone "tamms illinois"
This is what I would advise: Many artists in Chicago and other major urban centers are continually displaced because of high rent, mortgages, and taxes. Convert some of the abandoned buildings into artist loft cooperative housing that provides places to live and work and you will create a tourist industry. As far as the food desert situation create a cooperative grocery store in the downtown area as well.
In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Cairo, IL was the town that Huck and Jim were trying to reach when they floated on the Mississippi River on a raft so Jim could be a free man.
My truck broke down when crossing the Mississippi bridge and I crawled into the town. Didn't want to risk going over the Ohio bridge. When I called my dispatcher, he knew of the town and told me never to leave my truck and trailer alone. So much for exploring the town. He wanted me to back up my trailer to a wall but the truck died as soon as I got into the town and parked it in a vacant lot. Lots of vacant lots. All the buildings were boarded up and looked like they had been done that way a very long time ago as the boards were all gray from weathered age. All looked like they should just be demolished. Was told to double padlock the trailer doors so I did. There wasn't a garage in the town that could fix my truck so a tow was sent up from Nashville. I got into Cairo at dusk and waited hours for the tow to show. When it got dark, it seemed more like a nightmare town than a ghost town. Groups of young black boys came within a half block of me and none tried to talk to me. They just came and stared. None of them smiled. After an hour, they walked away only to be replaced by another group of young black men from another direction. I didn't feel threatened or scared. Felt almost like an animal in a zoo. A young attractive black woman showed up and asked why I was there. I told her I broke down and was waiting for a tow. She smiled, opened her coat, showed she was wearing nothing underneath, had a very attractive well-endowed hairless body, and offered to provide me company for $100 while I wait. I politely turned her down. She lowered her price to $20 but I still politely refused. She closed her coat, shrugged, said it was my loss, and walked away. It wasn't until midnight that the tow truck showed up and carried me out of there. In all those hours, not a single cop car even passed by. The tow truck driver was a middle-age black man who didn't have a single nice thing to say about Cairo. He was surprised nothing bad had happened to me or the truck. When we left, I felt only pity for the town.
Nothing was going to happen to you there. You just assumed because there were blk ppl but everyone in cairo knows each other and families know it other there. If anything they would've looked out for your truck and yourself.. crazy how a white person sees blk ppl and instantly stereotypes and Noone did anything to him.. cut the racist bs because I feel that way around white ppl
Great video on a town I've been fascinated by since driving through on our way to New Orleans. Thanks for making this, and I dig your channel as well! Keep it up!
I was born and raised in Cairo, Il in the 70's and 80's. I can recall and speak about the racism that happen there. My mother and some family members are still there as of Oct 2019. Recall as early as the age of 6 y/o marching in the streets with my grandmother and other residents laying down in front of city hall against racism in Cairo. But Cairo is coming on back on the raise. There is a Alexander and Cairo River Port Project is current underway. So stay tune!!!!!!
Your story, and the census beaurea's stories are at odds. They say the place is dying at a constant rate. Then again there are UA-camrs, who claim that Slab City is a great place, not a place where there are constantly cops showing up to answer calls, or a place where meth heads burn each other out. You keep dreaming.
I have been through and too Cairo many times, as I live about 75 miles to the east. A large part of S. Illinois would be well served to be part of Mo. or Ky. Illinois is a politically corrupt state and ruled by Chicago. Cairo is a forgotten bump at the bottom, ignored by the top.
Were there a lot of things that were wrong about Cairo's Jim Crow era, of course there were. But back then Cairo was actually a viable commercial center. If Rev. Charles Koen most notably and others of his ilk had let change occur gradually, instead of attempting to destroy everything that had stood you might still have a viable community today.
@@misterd6879 ever heard of moving? If there's no jobs, no opportunity, nobody wants you there, why wouldn't you feel entitled, and start a fight? You definitely don't want to take responsibility for improving your own situation, you want to cry how you're a victim, and stay in a place with no future.
There's so much potential for Cairo but so few willing to invest in a new future. A rotten shame how racism, industrial flight and the I-57 bypass ran this town down. Those who stayed over the decades and refuse to give up are the backbone of the community. There are some amazing people there who need to be recognized for their courage and resilience. You can't keep a dream alive if you don't start with a dream and a vision.
You're absolutely right. Sad story. If I ever become super successful, own a company or whatnot, I will put a manufacturing facility in this dying town. I'm surprised that some philanthropical organization hasn't contributed more already. No town in America needs more help.
What does racism have to do with this? When businesses leave, employment goes away, and the town goes to hell. Same as Detroit, MI, but on a smaller scale.
Sad what’s happened to this historic town...my wife and I pass through on the way to Cape Girardeau...urban decay at its best...shame on the state of Illinois for ‘turning its back’ on the town and people...
Remember this was the first line of defense on the Mason-Dixon line during the Civil War, the faces are gone but the graves still remain, ♥️🇺🇸♥️ 🗽 praying for the Union soldiers that fought and served at fort defiance ✝️♥️✝️
My wife spent a few years of her early life in Cairo and nearby Mounds City. We visited both last year to see what she could remember. I wouldn't mind going back there for another visit.
There's lots of information on it, don't stop with the ones trying to pipe sunshine up your behind. There's one where an old man tells about growing up poor there, on the wrong side of the tracks. One night, the fine people, shot his car full of holes, and started fire bombing businesses. If it wasn't about hate, why destroy the car of a poor white kid? They can scream it was about jobs all they want, but a poor teenager, that all he owns, is an old car, living in a shotgun shack, can't give you a job.
Towns thrive and towns die. Cairo isn't the first to go through this and won't be the last. The rest of the people should just pack up their shit and git.
We passed through there recently. The town, like many others in a similar state, intrigues me. Getting people to come and visit a place, takes time, dedication and in many cases lots of money. Hopefully someone will see the potential in Cairo and make some investments. Such a rich history.
Drive through there yesterday from Silkston because my kids wanted to go to Metropolis. Lord Jesus. The only thing that this town would be PERFECT for is to film a zombie movie. They wouldn’t have to do anything. My kids were hungry and we saw a subway sign. Well, there’s no building attached to it, but they have a sign.
Cairo died because there are no jobs. How hard to understand is that? When steamers plied the Mississippi, Cairo was a big port. No more boats=no more town.
Why Cairo failed: "Income based housing". Every town that has this goes into this kind of death spiral. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes they hold on, but once those apartments are built, the effect is profound and irreversible. Most of the people that live in those apartments do not work. They are on wellfare. the State/fed sends money to the town, that's how they bribe the city planners into taking the bait to begin with. The issue is, the people there don;t work. They have lots of kids. They bring drugs into town, and crime. They don't pay rent. they don;t pay property tax to support the local schools or roads or whatever. they don;t have any money! So they can't contribute to the local economy! The kids have a high rate of "special needs" meaning special school expenses. higher crime and drugs means more policing costs. Eventually this spirals until the town gets a reputation. THAT is what kills it, as honest hard working folk are not going to move to a scummy crime town. Not going to put their kids in a school with poor funding that has to deal with a significant amount of troubled kids. Now that the hard workers are not coming, the tax base they would have brought is not there, and it spirals out of control. meanwhile, city planners keep cashing state/fed checks and pretend it's worth it, until when it is far too late they realize it isn't, and now they have no way to reverse it. Because the city is desperate for cash, when a new business tries to show up, as soon as it shows any financial success it is taxed into oblivion. Sidewalk broken in front of your store? You get the entire bill. Street repair? Same. No one else has money to pitch in! Then these business get fed up or go bust and leave. And then you have the scene of what downtown Cairo looks like today. If you live in an area with these income based apartments, do your damndest to move out, at least move far enough and commute you are not in the firing line for taxes or the soon to be bankrupt school district. If you live somewhere without these travesty buildings, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THEM OUT!
So what's your proposed alternative, have more people homeless and starving on the streets? We tried that in victorian slums and it wasn't great to be honest. The only system that works to propel people reliably out of poverty is universal basic income. If you're serious about this topic, actually read the research. If you just want to dunk on the less fortunate, stay ignorant I guess, but then get ready to die with a lot of regrets and self-hatred.
@@vacafuega What a bullshit post. You are wrong of course, but you think you are somehow more "educated" then people that have lived through this and been part of it. I am not even sure what that last part is, passive aggressive insults and some attempt at passive aggressive pity? LOL. I hope you are a teenager because you have the mentality of one and outlook on life of one too. There is no free money, even when our gov't prints trillions of dollars on a whim, the cost is going to be paid by someone, generally people that actually work.
@@vacafuega No it is to never initiate income based housing, respect the rights of those who do work and spend the welfare $ not on welfare put rather on local business investments. But Dimocrats balked at that and did as LBJ wanted gave the poorest of the blacks welfare. To quote LBJ "With welfare we will have those n****rs voting Dimocrat for the next 50 years." Those are his words NOT MINE!
@@vacafuega you need to look up Cairo. It has basic income in the way of welfare. It has guaranteed housing. It's mostly women. It's mostly non whites. The women make about a third more a year than the men. The white patriarchy has been crushed in Cairo. It's a socialist paradise! Why is it falling down?! Because your socialist paradises always fall apart. Every thing that the Democrats want is there, but it's a scuzhole.
What the hell. Cairo is dead because it is a river town and floods. Sad, yes, but it's in the middle of nowhere and way too close to St Louis and Memphis, making it redundant. It died because it is too far from major highways to be practical as a port city.
If you want to get robbed go here. I know this place. Very dangerous. Do not go there.It was burned down during riots and the businesses never came back.
I remember in the 80s that the town had around 5000 people now it like 1800 people I thought it funny they had street stop lights that just flashed yellow all the time now they are even gone. The only thing to do in Cairo is watch the old beautiful building collapse from disrepair
So many ways to look at the demise and decline of Cairo. It seems that one demographic wanted controll of the city and lost it when they gained control. Another way to look at it is people with situational awareness heard the canary in the coal mine and bounced out of town. Either way it is unfortunate to see a city built by intelligence and integrity fall into despair.
That's a ghost town....dead. Needs to be gutted, how would anyone still live there much less bringing children in the world to live in a dead place.....is BEYOND ME!!!! There is NO future there.... period, stop kidding yourself.
Hard to believe that confluence of two huge rivers isn't an enormous draw for the river industry, and so many recreation possibilities. (Alton was the best in 60s-70s).
I have made several daytime trips to Cairo between 2007 & 2012. Always found friendly people and never actually felt in danger. Yes, there were are and were problems in the public housing areas but in general, it's not really that bad.
How could that be? Up until a few years ago, concealed carry was illegal in Illinois! They must have come over from KY or MO and not familiar with the Illinois laws at that time.
Wow you mean to try and tell me that Illinois criminals won't break conceal carry laws? That must mean that Illinois gun problems must all be because of people from out of state people since Illinois criminals don't break the law. Either your naive or just plain stupid. Fine I will change my opinion "Don't go to Cairo it is a dangerous shell of a town with out of state criminals." Is that better?
I'm being sarcastic! Gun laws ...MORE gun laws are useless against criminals while lawmakers only know how to further restrict law abiding citizens. Illinois was forced by he SCOTUS to become the LAST state in the union to pass some form of concealed carry. I no longer live in IL but live in a state where my concealed carry permit is recognized in 39 other states... Illinois is not one of them! Don't know where you were when you were mugged but I've walked up and down Commercial Avenue and and Rt. 51 without any hassles. Maybe because I've been seen with several prominent Cairoites they figure I ought not to be hassled. Lately HUD has been able to clear out some of the problem areas but some good residents have also been hurt by the housing eliminations. What exists in Cairo also exists in East St. Louis and other nearby depressed cities in KY and MO . I think the state would like Cairo to fail so they can shift their resources elsewhere. There are many residents who would like to see Cairo crawl out from under the mess they're in but they really need to conquer some of the serious problems before any move forward can begin. There are a lot of ghosts from the past 50 years that still lurk. The once called radicals from both sides have moved, died off or just gave up. The best thing to happen in Cairo recently was the removal of the crumbling Commercial Ave district. There's still a few structures that need to go when funds become available. Cairo is that proverbial onion. You have to peel off the layers to get to the good stuff!
Cairo reminds me of many towns in the Mississippi delta. Bunch of history but, Large poverty rates and declining population. Some areas are very heartbreaking, in what conditions some people live in. If the big one ever hits, since it’s very close to the new Madrid seismic zone, which could cause the levees to fail, Cairo would be no more.
This is not a unique situation, tons of once bigger cities and towns are on the decline, usually for reasons of poor economics and opportunities. I live in a dying town in West Texas. Currently my town has a population of about 5,800, and we lose 50 to 100 population every year - and this has been going on for decades. The simple fact is that there are few local job and career opportunities for our high school graduates. So, our young people understandably leave for jobs elsewhere, very few remain here to start their families. There are approximately 2,500 housing units in my town, and almost 300 are abandoned. Although costly, our municipal budget includes demolishing 6 - 8 of these long empty houses every year. They are a nuisance, attracting squatters and druggies.
Cairo just feels like a town in a prison because there only one way out north of town and that a tunnel that goes under a railroad and also has a flood gate that drops down Incase of a flood then the only way south out of town are the two lane bridges one over the Ohio and one over the Mississippi rivers kinda like walled in by leaves and rivers and railroad track that are 30 feet or higher above the town it doesn’t feel like a place that can grow it like a place you just want to leave as soon as you arrive like a prison.
I don't remember you saying that you live in Cairo or plan on moving there in the near future. Yes, Cairo has history, but it has poverty and crime well above the IL and national averages. Poverty and crime go hand in hand, and it's not a problem unique to Cairo. Every state has a city just like Cairo. Some more than one. If folks perceive they will not be safe, they stay away. Are there local groups who help visitors see the historic and natural sites?
There is a song called, "CAIRO, ILLINOIS" written by The Sherman Brothers (who wrote the songs for such classic musicals as Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book). It was written for the musical adaptation of Mark Twain's seminal classic novel: Huckleberry Finn. ua-cam.com/video/-3C5U2yawuE/v-deo.html
i am watching this just becouse i've been reading translated version of "American Gods" these days... Characters went out of Kairo , and they are somewhere northern at the page i red last precieding evening... I'll continue reading in a few hours. Pages about Little Egypt and Kairo have intrigated me the most... Ok, that's just a fiction, but curiosity led me here :)
Had to drive thru Cairo a few years ago to bypass a closed section of I-57 south. What a shithole. I did notice that it one was a boom town that went bust.
Visited last summer for my pop high school reunion “Mike Ayers” lol but yeah that place is hot, small, dry, and pretty segregated if I’m being honest. And the flood is their biggest downfall
They ran everything out of town. They want to make it their own little kingdom and if you can't afford to drive 20 or 30 miles to go get your groceries and you'll move out. This happens over and over.
One thing that might help Cairo a bit of marijuana is legalized in Illinois. It will be the closest place to the South where people can buy weed and you will have ALOT of people from Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas and elsewhere going there to buy their weed and go home. Illinois will probably be the next state to legalize.
Don't worry 😭 investors will scoop in a buy everything for nothing and recreate the whole place and the cost to live there will skyrocket and the past people will not able to stay there
That will never happen. Even Marion and Carbondale are bigger cities in southern Illinois, and housing is dirt cheap. Not many Jobs want to relocate to Illinois due to the high taxes. Hosing cannot skyrocket if people are leaving in droves.
The decline of Cairo, Illinois is an example of what happens when socialism replaces Democracy, and government allows small towns to die in order to drive population into big cities.
There are so many abandoned homes in Cairo. If the homeless were willing to get off their lazy asses & work, they could clean up one of the many abandoned homes in Cairo. The folks who do live in Cairo have given into the false promise of the Democrats that the government will take care of you. Not true. You have to be responsible and step up to care for you, and respect others with NOT COMMITTING OR TOLERATING CRIMINAL ACTIVITY!
Why the angry angry and idiotic response? Where's your f*cking compassion. Dummy, if a house is abandoned you CAN'T just "clean it up" there's a lot that goes into rehabbing in addition to a broom. Secondly, if you're homeless, hungry, sick and desperate - surviving is a struggle. Finally, what's with the absurdly inaccurate "Democrats" reference? No point in correcting you as you clearly just spout nonsense based on zero facts from your dark angry space.
Cairo is really a southern town in a northern state. Cairo is closer to Memphis and Mississippi than Chicago.
@brell 2-1-5 True. However, outsiders think of Illinois as being nothing but Chicago suburbs, thus "northern". Pretty much once you get south of I-64, that part of Illinois has more of a southern culture.
I swear on my life, if somehow I ever become a large business owner, I will put a Goddamn facility in Cairo to give the city a slim bit of hope.
Gonna take a lot of $$$ and a lot of cooperation from the city council, mayor and law enforcement to protect it. What I don't get is why at least some do-gooder organization hasn't established a food co-op like the ones that popped up during the recessions of the 1970's and 1980's. Food was sold at about 1% over cost and members of the community worked there pro-bono.
Yeah, it doesn't really make any sense to me either. No town in America needs it more. It's incredibly depressing.
I will be VERY CAREFUL, if I were you, to use God's name as a curse word
@@vicepresidentmikepence889 you stink
@rollercoasterlove94 if you are still there, looks like a good retirement party to me...
I had never even heard of Cairo, Illinois, until I drove through it a couple of days ago. I wish I'd thought to record what I was seeing, but I was just staring, almost in shock. I've not found videos on UA-cam showing this, but there are some of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen in Cairo. People tend to want to record themselves breaking into old houses and showing us couch cushions and that is sad. Has anyone ever been on what was known as Millionaire's Row in Cairo? I was just shocked; no other word for it. Very sad. Yes, there is abandoned squalor, but there is also abandoned beauty. Such a waste.
There's a historic district and quite a few well maintained historic homes. Tons of videos about Cairo are on You Tube.
I had almost the exact same experience. I'm from the Chicago region and was driving down to Tennessee and went through Cairo. I had to stop and look around because even though you can tell that the town has seen better days, you could also tell it has some amazing history. Of course a few days later UA-cam starts recommending me these videos.
I was . raise d in Cairo, buT Left at 14 . I will always love That SAD but Be a u T i f u L Town
when I was 9 years old , in 1956 I remember going to Cairo, Il to sing in church, I had a whole quarter, soI snuck out of church to by a Pop, I went into a restaurant and sat at the soda fountain bar, the waitress, notified three White men , they chased me out of the restaurant, I ran and hid in an alley, Please
I was lost, Somehow, I found my way back to the church, I've never been to Cairo again..
I am so incredibly sorry that happened to you.
@@farrahlynn3868 is that your white privilege apologizing to a total stranger
it was A ha rd Time for Black folks
History rich town.... I spent 27 years my life in Cairo. Thanks for the video
Born and raised just on the outskirts of Cairo Illinois; I love the area but my heart breaks because of the selfish and neglectful management of previous administration. Greed, corruption, prejudice and government distrust seem to be forever found in the soil Cairo was built on. In God We Trust. God bless Cairo, Illinois & Alexander County. (Thanks for your video)
it is truly a small world, here i am in a coffee shop downtown chicago with my favorite girl watching this nice video , i was suprised to see someone i know interested in the history of cairo and southren illinois.i agree with you 100% in what you said, the politicians down there and in springfield should be ashame of themselves for letting cairo get like it is. the money "Millions" they spent on that prison in tamms that closed after a few years should have been invested in cairo, every time i go home i drive through cairo. i love it, the ohio river and the mississppi river kentucky or mssouri which way you wanna go? i still believe some day a company will see the potential in that location......... vincent lagrone "tamms illinois"
This is what I would advise:
Many artists in Chicago and other major urban centers are continually displaced because of high rent, mortgages, and taxes.
Convert some of the abandoned buildings into artist loft cooperative housing that provides places to live and work and you will create a tourist industry.
As far as the food desert situation create a cooperative grocery store in the downtown area as well.
In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Cairo, IL was the town that Huck and Jim were trying to reach when they floated on the Mississippi River on a raft so Jim could be a free man.
Why not just paddle across the river from Hannibal?
My truck broke down when crossing the Mississippi bridge and I crawled into the town. Didn't want to risk going over the Ohio bridge. When I called my dispatcher, he knew of the town and told me never to leave my truck and trailer alone. So much for exploring the town. He wanted me to back up my trailer to a wall but the truck died as soon as I got into the town and parked it in a vacant lot. Lots of vacant lots. All the buildings were boarded up and looked like they had been done that way a very long time ago as the boards were all gray from weathered age. All looked like they should just be demolished. Was told to double padlock the trailer doors so I did. There wasn't a garage in the town that could fix my truck so a tow was sent up from Nashville. I got into Cairo at dusk and waited hours for the tow to show. When it got dark, it seemed more like a nightmare town than a ghost town. Groups of young black boys came within a half block of me and none tried to talk to me. They just came and stared. None of them smiled. After an hour, they walked away only to be replaced by another group of young black men from another direction. I didn't feel threatened or scared. Felt almost like an animal in a zoo. A young attractive black woman showed up and asked why I was there. I told her I broke down and was waiting for a tow. She smiled, opened her coat, showed she was wearing nothing underneath, had a very attractive well-endowed hairless body, and offered to provide me company for $100 while I wait. I politely turned her down. She lowered her price to $20 but I still politely refused. She closed her coat, shrugged, said it was my loss, and walked away. It wasn't until midnight that the tow truck showed up and carried me out of there. In all those hours, not a single cop car even passed by. The tow truck driver was a middle-age black man who didn't have a single nice thing to say about Cairo. He was surprised nothing bad had happened to me or the truck. When we left, I felt only pity for the town.
awesome story. i drove thru here once. wow what a spooky place. kinda wanna go back and film it with my drone while it is still here
That's about all I've ever read about the place. Don't be there after dark. That's in most of the things I read. Glad you got out okay.
Very interesting story. Obviously, don't go there.
Nothing was going to happen to you there. You just assumed because there were blk ppl but everyone in cairo knows each other and families know it other there. If anything they would've looked out for your truck and yourself.. crazy how a white person sees blk ppl and instantly stereotypes and Noone did anything to him.. cut the racist bs because I feel that way around white ppl
Great video on a town I've been fascinated by since driving through on our way to New Orleans. Thanks for making this, and I dig your channel as well! Keep it up!
I was born and raised in Cairo, Il in the 70's and 80's. I can recall and speak about the racism that happen there. My mother and some family members are still there as of Oct 2019. Recall as early as the age of 6 y/o marching in the streets with my grandmother and other residents laying down in front of city hall against racism in Cairo. But Cairo is coming on back on the raise. There is a Alexander and Cairo River Port Project is current underway. So stay tune!!!!!!
On the rise??!!!! who are you kidding?!! Man.... that ghost town needs to be gutted forever.
You protesters got what you wanted, no white people. Now look at your city.
Your story, and the census beaurea's stories are at odds. They say the place is dying at a constant rate. Then again there are UA-camrs, who claim that Slab City is a great place, not a place where there are constantly cops showing up to answer calls, or a place where meth heads burn each other out.
You keep dreaming.
Me to I was born at st.marys hospital in 76
I have been through and too Cairo many times, as I live about 75 miles to the east. A large part of S. Illinois would be well served to be part of Mo. or Ky. Illinois is a politically corrupt state and ruled by Chicago. Cairo is a forgotten bump at the bottom, ignored by the top.
Were there a lot of things that were wrong about Cairo's Jim Crow era, of course there were. But back then Cairo was actually a viable commercial center. If Rev. Charles Koen most notably and others of his ilk had let change occur gradually, instead of attempting to destroy everything that had stood you might still have a viable community today.
So that means take what is dished out to keep the peace? Unless you were on receiving end, you wouldn't know.
My dad was born in Cairo Illinois
@@misterd6879 ever heard of moving? If there's no jobs, no opportunity, nobody wants you there, why wouldn't you feel entitled, and start a fight? You definitely don't want to take responsibility for improving your own situation, you want to cry how you're a victim, and stay in a place with no future.
There's so much potential for Cairo but so few willing to invest in a new future. A rotten shame how racism, industrial flight and the I-57 bypass ran this town down. Those who stayed over the decades and refuse to give up are the backbone of the community. There are some amazing people there who need to be recognized for their courage and resilience. You can't keep a dream alive if you don't start with a dream and a vision.
You're absolutely right. Sad story. If I ever become super successful, own a company or whatnot, I will put a manufacturing facility in this dying town. I'm surprised that some philanthropical organization hasn't contributed more already. No town in America needs more help.
Potential????!!!!! who are you kidding????!!!
What does racism have to do with this? When businesses leave, employment goes away, and the town goes to hell. Same as Detroit, MI, but on a smaller scale.
Sad what’s happened to this historic town...my wife and I pass through on the way to Cape Girardeau...urban decay at its best...shame on the state of Illinois for ‘turning its back’ on the town and people...
The race riots is what ruined Cairo is that correct.
@@asimhusain8087 www.legendsofamerica.com/il-cairo/
@@tgamble1000 thanks I would love to visit Cairo.
Urban decay? It’s a small town. Always was.
Thank you for such a great video about my hometown. You managed to be realistic yet positive, and I appreciate it very much!
Remember this was the first line of defense on the Mason-Dixon line during the Civil War, the faces are gone but the graves still remain, ♥️🇺🇸♥️ 🗽 praying for the Union soldiers that fought and served at fort defiance ✝️♥️✝️
My wife spent a few years of her early life in Cairo and nearby Mounds City. We visited both last year to see what she could remember. I wouldn't mind going back there for another visit.
I don't get how a city located on the junction of two major US rivers isn't a booming shipping port.
There's lots of information on it, don't stop with the ones trying to pipe sunshine up your behind. There's one where an old man tells about growing up poor there, on the wrong side of the tracks. One night, the fine people, shot his car full of holes, and started fire bombing businesses. If it wasn't about hate, why destroy the car of a poor white kid? They can scream it was about jobs all they want, but a poor teenager, that all he owns, is an old car, living in a shotgun shack, can't give you a job.
Towns thrive and towns die. Cairo isn't the first to go through this and won't be the last. The rest of the people should just pack up their shit and git.
We passed through there recently. The town, like many others in a similar state, intrigues me. Getting people to come and visit a place, takes time, dedication and in many cases lots of money. Hopefully someone will see the potential in Cairo and make some investments. Such a rich history.
There's no food, no lodging, no entertainment venues, just a crumbling old town, with poverty and crime. It's practically Disneyland! Sign me up!
It's always about money. Money will move mountains.
I'm gonna visit Cairo
Did you visit Cairo yet?
It's CREEPY 🧟
Excellent video.
Illinoisan Americans went through similar tragedies as others that suffered from Jim crowism.
Drive through there yesterday from Silkston because my kids wanted to go to Metropolis. Lord Jesus. The only thing that this town would be PERFECT for is to film a zombie movie. They wouldn’t have to do anything. My kids were hungry and we saw a subway sign. Well, there’s no building attached to it, but they have a sign.
Cairo died because there are no jobs. How hard to understand is that? When steamers plied the Mississippi, Cairo was a big port. No more boats=no more town.
exactly
"People have high hopes for Cairo." Based on what?
Stupidity and emotions.
Why Cairo failed: "Income based housing".
Every town that has this goes into this kind of death spiral. Sometimes it takes longer, sometimes they hold on, but once those apartments are built, the effect is profound and irreversible.
Most of the people that live in those apartments do not work. They are on wellfare.
the State/fed sends money to the town, that's how they bribe the city planners into taking the bait to begin with.
The issue is, the people there don;t work. They have lots of kids. They bring drugs into town, and crime.
They don't pay rent.
they don;t pay property tax to support the local schools or roads or whatever.
they don;t have any money! So they can't contribute to the local economy!
The kids have a high rate of "special needs" meaning special school expenses.
higher crime and drugs means more policing costs.
Eventually this spirals until the town gets a reputation. THAT is what kills it, as honest hard working folk are not going to move to a scummy crime town. Not going to put their kids in a school with poor funding that has to deal with a significant amount of troubled kids. Now that the hard workers are not coming, the tax base they would have brought is not there, and it spirals out of control. meanwhile, city planners keep cashing state/fed checks and pretend it's worth it, until when it is far too late they realize it isn't, and now they have no way to reverse it.
Because the city is desperate for cash, when a new business tries to show up, as soon as it shows any financial success it is taxed into oblivion. Sidewalk broken in front of your store? You get the entire bill. Street repair? Same. No one else has money to pitch in! Then these business get fed up or go bust and leave. And then you have the scene of what downtown Cairo looks like today.
If you live in an area with these income based apartments, do your damndest to move out, at least move far enough and commute you are not in the firing line for taxes or the soon to be bankrupt school district. If you live somewhere without these travesty buildings, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THEM OUT!
Absolutely true. Welfare doesn't alleviate poverty, it subsidizes it. A city that works is a city that works.
So what's your proposed alternative, have more people homeless and starving on the streets? We tried that in victorian slums and it wasn't great to be honest. The only system that works to propel people reliably out of poverty is universal basic income. If you're serious about this topic, actually read the research. If you just want to dunk on the less fortunate, stay ignorant I guess, but then get ready to die with a lot of regrets and self-hatred.
@@vacafuega What a bullshit post. You are wrong of course, but you think you are somehow more "educated" then people that have lived through this and been part of it. I am not even sure what that last part is, passive aggressive insults and some attempt at passive aggressive pity? LOL. I hope you are a teenager because you have the mentality of one and outlook on life of one too. There is no free money, even when our gov't prints trillions of dollars on a whim, the cost is going to be paid by someone, generally people that actually work.
@@vacafuega No it is to never initiate income based housing, respect the rights of those who do work and spend the welfare $ not on welfare put rather on local business investments. But Dimocrats balked at that and did as LBJ wanted gave the poorest of the blacks welfare. To quote LBJ "With welfare we will have those n****rs voting Dimocrat for the next 50 years." Those are his words NOT MINE!
@@vacafuega you need to look up Cairo. It has basic income in the way of welfare. It has guaranteed housing. It's mostly women. It's mostly non whites. The women make about a third more a year than the men. The white patriarchy has been crushed in Cairo. It's a socialist paradise! Why is it falling down?! Because your socialist paradises always fall apart. Every thing that the Democrats want is there, but it's a scuzhole.
What the hell. Cairo is dead because it is a river town and floods. Sad, yes, but it's in the middle of nowhere and way too close to St Louis and Memphis, making it redundant. It died because it is too far from major highways to be practical as a port city.
I live a few hours north in springfield,illinois. I have been there. It's a cool place
If you want to get robbed go here. I know this place. Very dangerous. Do not go there.It was burned down during riots and the businesses never came back.
Where do you park your vehicle when you go to visit Cairo?
I remember in the 80s that the town had around 5000 people now it like 1800 people I thought it funny they had street stop lights that just flashed yellow all the time now they are even gone. The only thing to do in Cairo is watch the old beautiful building collapse from disrepair
So many ways to look at the demise and decline of Cairo. It seems that one demographic wanted controll of the city and lost it when they gained control. Another way to look at it is people with situational awareness heard the canary in the coal mine and bounced out of town. Either way it is unfortunate to see a city built by intelligence and integrity fall into despair.
You should move there. Tell us how that works out.
That's a ghost town....dead. Needs to be gutted, how would anyone still live there much less bringing children in the world to live in a dead place.....is BEYOND ME!!!! There is NO future there.... period, stop kidding yourself.
Hard to believe that confluence of two huge rivers isn't an enormous draw for the river industry, and so many recreation possibilities. (Alton was the best in 60s-70s).
Before your visit look up the crime rate.
I have made several daytime trips to Cairo between 2007 & 2012. Always found friendly people and never actually felt in danger. Yes, there were are and were problems in the public housing areas but in general, it's not really that bad.
I was only mugged twice in the middle of the day within a 3 month period both with guns. But I guess I was mugged real friendly if that counts. lol
How could that be? Up until a few years ago, concealed carry was illegal in Illinois! They must have come over from KY or MO and not familiar with the Illinois laws at that time.
Wow you mean to try and tell me that Illinois criminals won't break conceal carry laws? That must mean that Illinois gun problems must all be because of people from out of state people since Illinois criminals don't break the law. Either your naive or just plain stupid. Fine I will change my opinion "Don't go to Cairo it is a dangerous shell of a town with out of state criminals." Is that better?
I'm being sarcastic! Gun laws ...MORE gun laws are useless against criminals while lawmakers only know how to further restrict law abiding citizens. Illinois was forced by he SCOTUS to become the LAST state in the union to pass some form of concealed carry. I no longer live in IL but live in a state where my concealed carry permit is recognized in 39 other states... Illinois is not one of them!
Don't know where you were when you were mugged but I've walked up and down Commercial Avenue and and Rt. 51 without any hassles. Maybe because I've been seen with several prominent Cairoites they figure I ought not to be hassled. Lately HUD has been able to clear out some of the problem areas but some good residents have also been hurt by the housing eliminations.
What exists in Cairo also exists in East St. Louis and other nearby depressed cities in KY and MO . I think the state would like Cairo to fail so they can shift their resources elsewhere. There are many residents who would like to see Cairo crawl out from under the mess they're in but they really need to conquer some of the serious problems before any move forward can begin.
There are a lot of ghosts from the past 50 years that still lurk. The once called radicals from both sides have moved, died off or just gave up. The best thing to happen in Cairo recently was the removal of the crumbling Commercial Ave district. There's still a few structures that need to go when funds become available. Cairo is that proverbial onion. You have to peel off the layers to get to the good stuff!
Cairo reminds me of many towns in the Mississippi delta. Bunch of history but, Large poverty rates and declining population. Some areas are very heartbreaking, in what conditions some people live in. If the big one ever hits, since it’s very close to the new Madrid seismic zone, which could cause the levees to fail, Cairo would be no more.
1700 people live there. Charles Dickens was unimpressed by the place even in the 1800 when he visited. Right now it's a pretty depresign place.
Detroit is sufferring the same fate.
Detroit isn't quite this bad.
Actually Detroit is slowly riding. It has its problems but it’s already hit rock bottom and has nowhere to go but up
There is always more bottom below that rock. It can get worse. You must work to make it better.
@@theclawcadet755 Detroit isn't quite as bad? 🤣
cairo.... detroit... baltimore.....Gary.....Cleveland.... vote democrat and see your cities flourish in the midwest!!!
🤣 yup
wtf do you mean? silly, overly simplistic political rhetoric that is utterly inaccurate and baseless. Stop contributing to the problem.
It’s way more complicated than that lmao. You been to Kentucky?
This is a very good video. Well done.
Listen to the song "Road to Cairo" by David Ackles a forgotten classic song from 1968.
This is not a unique situation, tons of once bigger cities and towns are on the decline, usually for reasons of poor economics and opportunities. I live in a dying town in West Texas. Currently my town has a population of about 5,800, and we lose 50 to 100 population every year - and this has been going on for decades. The simple fact is that there are few local job and career opportunities for our high school graduates. So, our young people understandably leave for jobs elsewhere, very few remain here to start their families. There are approximately 2,500 housing units in my town, and almost 300 are abandoned. Although costly, our municipal budget includes demolishing 6 - 8 of these long empty houses every year. They are a nuisance, attracting squatters and druggies.
Cairo just feels like a town in a prison because there only one way out north of town and that a tunnel that goes under a railroad and also has a flood gate that drops down Incase of a flood then the only way south out of town are the two lane bridges one over the Ohio and one over the Mississippi rivers kinda like walled in by leaves and rivers and railroad track that are 30 feet or higher above the town it doesn’t feel like a place that can grow it like a place you just want to leave as soon as you arrive like a prison.
i rember that satue when i was little im 64 now
That was eye opening!
my uncle was in the natinal guard when the riots where going on
I don't remember you saying that you live in Cairo or plan on moving there in the near future. Yes, Cairo has history, but it has poverty and crime well above the IL and national averages. Poverty and crime go hand in hand, and it's not a problem unique to Cairo. Every state has a city just like Cairo. Some more than one. If folks perceive they will not be safe, they stay away. Are there local groups who help visitors see the historic and natural sites?
What’s crazy is people give the town a bad name. If you live in Cairo or even just visiting, everyone welcomes you.
Pokey Lafarge's song "Cairo Illinois" brought me here.
Oh it’s a ghost town. I just drove through there.
Bill Carson up there forgotten never leave anybody behind
There is a song called, "CAIRO, ILLINOIS" written by The Sherman Brothers (who wrote the songs for such classic musicals as Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book). It was written for the musical adaptation of Mark Twain's seminal classic novel: Huckleberry Finn. ua-cam.com/video/-3C5U2yawuE/v-deo.html
That will soon happened to most states in the US unfortunately
i am watching this just becouse i've been reading translated version of "American Gods" these days... Characters went out of Kairo , and they are somewhere northern at the page i red last precieding evening... I'll continue reading in a few hours. Pages about Little Egypt and Kairo have intrigated me the most... Ok, that's just a fiction, but curiosity led me here :)
My mom grew up in Cairo
Had to drive thru Cairo a few years ago to bypass a closed section of I-57 south.
What a shithole.
I did notice that it one was a boom town that went bust.
I want to explore this place, I live in rantoul, where the rantoul afb was abandoned
It was Chanute AFB. Rantoul didn't suffer, it never was anything.
Visited last summer for my pop high school reunion “Mike Ayers” lol but yeah that place is hot, small, dry, and pretty segregated if I’m being honest. And the flood is their biggest downfall
Locals pronounce it as (Keer-oh) if I remember correctly.
The only real hope Cario would have is to make it a riverboat gambling’s spot because nothing else could make it it maybe too far gone for even that
build a campground and they will come
They ran everything out of town. They want to make it their own little kingdom and if you can't afford to drive 20 or 30 miles to go get your groceries and you'll move out. This happens over and over.
Originally a riverboat town. Then add the railroads. When those industries left nothing replaced them. Add the racial strive...
I used to live there
here's a 🍪
Recreational Marijuana!!!
Why would you want to go to Cairo??
My dad was born in cairo
here's a 🍪
Bulldozing virtually the entire downtown historic district didn't help Cairo's revitalization chances.
Why don't the people get together and open their own grocery store?
Which the locals would promptly rob.
Lmao obama bailed an never looked back
Sad commentary on a town in Illinois that is totally abandoned. Cairo isn’t worth it?
Another neighboring state should annex it and re-strucure it
One thing that might help Cairo a bit of marijuana is legalized in Illinois. It will be the closest place to the South where people can buy weed and you will have ALOT of people from Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas and elsewhere going there to buy their weed and go home. Illinois will probably be the next state to legalize.
"marijuana is legalized in Illinois" No, just legalized in Alexander County.
Ehhh Missouri has medical, they might legalize it before Illinois.
Yeah, cuz drugs always improve a community. 🤪
Don't worry 😭 investors will scoop in a buy everything for nothing and recreate the whole place and the cost to live there will skyrocket and the past people will not able to stay there
Elizabeth A Daly yep give it bout 10 years
I hope not.
Dream on.
That will never happen. Even Marion and Carbondale are bigger cities in southern Illinois, and housing is dirt cheap. Not many Jobs want to relocate to Illinois due to the high taxes. Hosing cannot skyrocket if people are leaving in droves.
The way this guy says Illinois sounds forced and hipsterish as all hell!!
American Gods will spark a turist boom
That is why I am here. I totally agree with you!!!
I live here
i was born there
here's a 🍪
The decline of Cairo, Illinois is an example of what happens when socialism replaces Democracy, and government allows small towns to die in order to drive population into big cities.
Racism, not socialism, destroyed Cairo.
Dude attacked Ben Carson but let’s obama off the hook hahahahaha
I mean Carson wasn’t wrong . The town is dying
I noticed that too. lol
I was raised in Cairo, I b
Ame democrT rule.
Blacks, and Unions,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Racist and still carry outdated ideas.
@Fuhq Boi What about Whites and Meth?
@Fuhq Boi I didn't know you were from Kentucky 😲
@Fuhq Boi Be the change you want to see. We have enough people trying to make others scapegoats in this world. 🙏
@@misterd6879 the population is about 80% black. The whites are retirees. Not exactly the meth demographic.
There are so many abandoned homes in Cairo. If the homeless were willing to get off their lazy asses & work, they could clean up one of the many abandoned homes in Cairo. The folks who do live in Cairo have given into the false promise of the Democrats that the government will take care of you. Not true. You have to be responsible and step up to care for you, and respect others with NOT COMMITTING OR TOLERATING CRIMINAL ACTIVITY!
Why the angry angry and idiotic response? Where's your f*cking compassion. Dummy, if a house is abandoned you CAN'T just "clean it up" there's a lot that goes into rehabbing in addition to a broom. Secondly, if you're homeless, hungry, sick and desperate - surviving is a struggle. Finally, what's with the absurdly inaccurate "Democrats" reference? No point in correcting you as you clearly just spout nonsense based on zero facts from your dark angry space.
There can be NO good reason to visit this place!
Gentrification
Corey Grace nope it’s prone to flooding and white flight.
So is Charleston South Carolina but they came
Billions and billions for the corporate military Contractors but nothing for its Cities in Distress!!!way to go government!!!
build a marina you will get people
Socialism at its best😳
Boo hoo. Let it go
No thanks