Cairo, IL - Page 2

Midwesterner · #21 Posted **Apr 6, 2007, 5:38 PM**

Wow, great shots. Welcome to SSP!

keninhalifax · #22 Posted **Apr 6, 2007, 5:40 PM**

Yikes. The town looks pretty deserted... I hope this thread doesn't turn out to be as controversial as the Gary, Indiana one from last year.

UrbanSophist · #23 Posted **Apr 6, 2007, 7:07 PM**

Expat · #24 Posted **Apr 6, 2007, 7:35 PM**

Interesting pictures. I have never been to Cairo, IL. I thought the real problem with the town is a location prone to flooding. It is on a spit between the Mississippi & Ohio, right where two rivers join. Isn't the entire town surrounded by flood walls. I believe there was a major catastrophic flood in the 1930s and the town has declined ever since.

Clevelumbus · #25 Posted **Apr 6, 2007, 7:57 PM**

Wow, awesome pics. Very depressing, yet fascinating.

Sacto · #26 Posted **Apr 6, 2007, 8:03 PM**

Not a single human being in sight.

erasercut · #27 Posted **Apr 6, 2007, 11:22 PM**

I remember reading an article about the decline of Cairo in the St. Louis Post Dispatch a few years ago but I didn't envision it to be this bad.

xzmattzx · #28 Posted **Apr 9, 2007, 2:39 AM**

Cairo looks like a complete ghost town. Interesting pictures, since it's somewhat rare to be able to drive right into a comatose town like that.

Even that "Do Not Enter" sign shows how abandoned the town is. When was it put up, the 1940's?

TransitEngr · #29 Posted **Apr 9, 2007, 3:32 AM**

OMG.... that's one of the creepiest things I've seen in a while....

Seriously.... I bet hollywood could shoot some cool murder/thriller movie there for DIRT cheap.

I hope that Cairo doesn't give me nightmares....

giantSwan · #30 Posted **Apr 9, 2007, 4:03 AM**

Great post...I'm simulatinously facinated and troubled by towns like this...

Rusty van Reddick · #31 Posted **Apr 9, 2007, 4:05 AM**

Can any place look worse than Gary? I didn't think it was possible- but perhaps yes.

trvlr70 · #32 Posted **Apr 9, 2007, 2:29 PM**

A studio should buy the whole downtown and use the set to film period movies.

rockyi · #33 Posted **Apr 11, 2007, 2:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trvlr70

A studio should buy the whole downtown and use the set to film period movies.

I like your idea. Many of those buildings, while pretty beat up, at least haven't been altered or remodeled over the decades so after a little cosmetic work and adding a few antique autos to the streets, you're ready to film.

ikcyzrteip · #34 Posted **Apr 13, 2007, 2:02 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ex-Ithacan

Walmart?

Stephan · #35 Posted **Apr 23, 2007, 12:49 PM**

It reminds about a similar thread about Gary (Indiana). It looks just like a modern ghosttown. You kept this modern drama very well with the camera

Marcu · #36 Posted **Apr 23, 2007, 3:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dick

Illinois is actually one of the most capitalistic states in the country. Some of the poorest and richest areas of the United States, can be found in Illinois. Southern Illinois is a cesspool of poverty. Chicago's North VS South Side is a metaphore for it all. East St. Louis , and its story, is another one.

I'm not sure what you mean. By capitalistic do you mean free market? Because that's probably not the case. Capitalistic usually means in ideology and Illinois is anything but. Also, the largest divisions in income are usually in more socialist countries like Brazil and India, which both have massive nationalized chunks of the economy.

From what I heard, Cairo was founded as a slave fugutive town. It's right on the Kentucky border and the town was founded returning fugitive slaves for a reward. Ironically, the town is now something like 65% black. Mostly from the great migration to the north in the beginning of the 20th century.

As far as the southern illinois economy, it started going downhill when the EPA started cracking down on sulfur emissions. Illinois coal, which is what the soouthern ill economy was based on, is higher in sulfur than coal from Montana and Wyoming. The crackdown on sulfur emissions effectively shifted most of America's coal mining from southern illinois, kentucky, and west virginia to the west.

Some of the towns have been seeing some signs of life with a rise in energy prices, making it cost effective for power plants put cleaning mechanisms making it possible (and legal) to use dirtier coal found in Illinois.

Complex01 · #37 Posted **Apr 23, 2007, 4:16 PM**

Wow those are some eire pics. I dont know what to think. Thank you for sharing...

john_mclark · #38 Posted **Apr 23, 2007, 5:29 PM**

There is a town next to home (Abilene, TX) called Tye (pop 2 or 3 thousand) its the junction of Highway 80 and I-20 and the only things there are strip clubs and trailers.

The interesting thing is a lot of construction companies in the area are located there because of the low land value and very low taxes.

Xing · #39 Posted **Apr 30, 2007, 6:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marcu

I'm not sure what you mean. By capitalistic do you mean free market? Because that's probably not the case. Capitalistic usually means in ideology and Illinois is anything but. Also, the largest divisions in income are usually in more socialist countries like Brazil and India, which both have massive nationalized chunks of the economy.

From what I heard, Cairo was founded as a slave fugutive town. It's right on the Kentucky border and the town was founded returning fugitive slaves for a reward. Ironically, the town is now something like 65% black. Mostly from the great migration to the north in the beginning of the 20th century.

As far as the southern illinois economy, it started going downhill when the EPA started cracking down on sulfur emissions. Illinois coal, which is what the soouthern ill economy was based on, is higher in sulfur than coal from Montana and Wyoming. The crackdown on sulfur emissions effectively shifted most of America's coal mining from southern illinois, kentucky, and west virginia to the west.

Some of the towns have been seeing some signs of life with a rise in energy prices, making it cost effective for power plants put cleaning mechanisms making it possible (and legal) to use dirtier coal found in Illinois.

Manipulating the results to your own liking isn't going to change my own perception of how fucked up I really think my state can be, and how greed and corruption plays a major role in the demise of certain cities over others.

LMich · #40 Posted **Apr 30, 2007, 7:32 AM**

It looks to be a once-functioning river town that many of its citizens decided wasn't irrelevent, anymore. But, that's the story of a lot of this country. You look at these cities and wonder why no one has came in and bought up the downtown, if only to save a portion of it for use. There is no way with the population shrinking so fast that the city government can do anything to save it. Someone's going to have to bail this place out, but I know no one will.

Aerials from Wikipedia:

It appears much of the town has been razed, altogether.

BTW, the comparisons to Gary are poor, at best. Gary still has a chance of being saved, and many sections of it are. This little city could, in all reality, completely disappear in three to four more decades, if it even takes that long.