Pronounced kay-row by local people, Cairo, Illinois is one of the most perplexing places in the United States. It's contrasts between southern charm and rural poverty are as strong today as ever.
Little Egypt
It has a history and location that seem to have blessed it with potential and yet it has continued to decline since the 1940s. Like so many small cities across America, the story hasn't gone as planned. A closer look at Cairo's history shows that many of the right elements failed to become part of the mix at Cairo and controversy has always been boiling just below the surface.
On a map Cairo looks like a natural place to build, set between two of the nation's mightiest rivers, the Mississippi and Ohio. The plans were laid out for Cairo in 1807, but actual lots were not sold for building until 1853. What the early map doesn't say is that much of the area is subject to floods - severe floods. Most of this area in southern Illinois, before levy systems and canals helped to drain most of them, were cypress swamps. Swamps covered a large area from the Ohio River north to the Cache River watershed and beyond until the land rises up enough to be above flood the flood plain.
This area is known as Little Egypt to Southern Illinois residents. The most popular reason seems to be the similarity of the area between the Ohio River and Mississippi River to the Nile delta area in Egypt.
Cairo: Location, Location, Location
Cairo was in private hands until the early 1850s - the Cairo City Property Trust. The land was marketed by the trust to investors back east. A local government was not formed for Cairo until 1855. Contrary to advertisements, Cairo was no paradise; it was by most accounts full of card sharks and prostitutes, but still many who came felt it had potential because of its location. Many business people and politicians did their best to try and bring prosperity to this "natural" gateway to the west.
Sound familiar? It should, since this is exactly what St. Louis, Missouri became, much to the detriment of Cairo's future. Cairo at one time had 7 different rail lines running through it., but as river traffic and shipping changed, many of the rail lines became inactive. Even as Cairo reached a population high of 15,000 in 1920, changes were coming that would soon make it more and more difficult for businesses to succeed.
Trucking of products to Chicago was leaving Cairo out of the loop; its port on the Ohio side did not suit many and was not used as much as other ports further up the Ohio. Plus, there was constantly a lot of political wrangling going on with unions that made it a difficult town to do business in.
Racism
Cairo is famous for race riots in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, but the problems with race started decades before the Civil Rights movement. In 1909 an African American man named Will James was accused of murdering a white girl. He was hung from the metal archway entrance to the town square in Cairo. The rope broke, but he was immediately riddled with bullets, and then dragged through the streets by the rope, followed by hundreds of on lookers.
Political power and control by whites in Cairo has made for bitter race relations. It has also made it a difficult place to raise and educate children. The first black City Council member was not elected until 1980 even though the black population was quickly moving towards the majority in Cairo.
Dr. Richard Poston
Numerous efforts and projects have been undertaken to help Cairo reverse its downward spiral in population. In 1987 Dr. Richard Poston of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale undertook an enormous effort to complete a community census and attitude survey of the community. It was an eye opener for many, but not all were surprised to see the amount of mistrust that existed.
Fort Defiance State Park
The Fort Defiance State Park then became the focus of an effort to bring people together in a united community effort. Abandoned by the State of Illinois, Fort Defiance State park lay overgrown with weeds from the entrance all the way down to the amazing confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
Young and old, black and white volunteers came to work on the project. The State of Illinois gave Cairo a long term lease to the park and Dr. Poston secured funding to have the road into the park paved with asphalt.
In 1991 I joined this on-going effort by Dr. Poston as an intern in the SIU-C Community Development department. Fort Defiance State Park was beautiful, kept immaculate by volunteers and local prison work crews. But, the reality of the political establishment had set in and there was very little cooperation with then local Mayor James Wilson. In fact the volunteer effort and non-profit established as Confluence Community Development faced an uphill battle just to survive.
In the time of my internship and since then as a community development professional, I have heard of multiple grants and efforts in Cairo. The Underground Railroad went through Cairo and tunnels and other historical evidence of this time during the Civil War have been found. But despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years and thousands of hours by dedicated volunteers, Cairo has continued to decline. Cairo's population now stands at 2996 as of the latest census.
Cairo Is Cairo
Yet people still come from the outside and see the old mansions, cobbled streets, historical library, the Customs House, the Heuer Statue, the beautiful restored mansions on millionaires row and Fort Defiance State Park. Then they see the shambles of a downtown and neighborhoods, some of which used to have dozens of homes and they wonder what happened. Is there yet another new beginning for Little Egypt's lost diamond in the rough?
Sources
The Cairo Project, Cairo's History, 2007 by the School of Journalism, SIUC, cairo.mcma.siu.edu Accessed Feb 1, 2011
Executed Today, 1909 Will James the "Froggie" Lynched in Cairo, executedtoday.com Accessed Feb 1, 2011
The John Marshall Law School Fair & Affordable Housing Commentary, The Cairo Experience, 1982 by Michael P. Seng, jmls.edu/fairhousingcenter Accessed Feb 1, 2011
Unemploymentality, Recessions Lessons Road Trip Part IV, July 20, 2009, by John Henion unemploymentality.com Accessed Feb 1, 2011
National Trust for Historic Preservation, Defending Fort Defiance, August/September 1997, by Sudid Bose, preservationnation.org Accessed Feb 1, 2011
Illinois Real Estate, Cairo Illinois, 2010, illinoistotheworld.org Accessed Feb 1, 2011
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