A once wealthy and elegant city, Cairo Illinois now stands in ruins.
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On the tip of the southern-most end of Illinois is a peninsula of land where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet. This is Cairo.
In the past Cairo was a beauty of a town. A shipping port, ferry stop, and railroad hub throughout the 1800’s, it boasted a swelling population of 15,000, a swanky downtown shopping district and trolley, and many fine homes. A jewel city for Illinois.
But in the 1900’s a series of devasting floods contributed to Cairo’s decline, along with the construction of modern bridges which allowed the city to be bypassed entirely.
Today Cairo is a ghost town. The landscape is dotted with crumbling buildings and vacant lots. Population hovers at a paltry 1,400. The last grocery store pulled out a couple of years ago.
A few of the old stately homes still survive in an isolated historic district.
But just a block away from the grand old houses are properties that had a less fortunate fate.
Trains still rumble through Cairo, along with a smattering of truck traffic, but most travelers take the interstate bridge to the north, never venturing into town at all.
We crossed the old 1929 bridge over the Mississippi River into Missouri and bid Cairo a wistful farewell.
Rest in peace, sweet town.
4 comments
Yikes! Cairo looks like towns visited by hungry tornadoes, only without a tornado involved! The best those few historic homes that still look grand seem likely buys for someone who can afford to move the entire building.
If you’re looking for cheap housing…
Change is constant, for better and for worse, or maybe is just is
Ain’t it the truth!