Cairo

The route for our drive home took us through the small town of Cairo, Illinois. Cairo was incorporated in the 1850s, and sits at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. But like many of the towns along the Mississippi River that were built for the steamboat era, Cairo seems to have been bypassed and left adrift in the current of modern times.

Cairo was once a prominent town along the river. In the novel Huckleberry Finn, it is the destination that Jim and Huck are trying to reach (which they miss and then *spoiler alert* accidentally end up in Arkansas). During the Civil War, Cairo was an important Union supply base and training center. After the war, the town's location along the river turned it into a railroad and river traffic hub. There was also legal gambling and prostitution, which gave the town an untamed culture that was compared to New Orleans. 

But a swirling combination of factors combined to lead to the towns steady downturn. The religious community was able to ban gambling and prostitution. Then the decrease of the river and railroad industry began as the town was bypassed by new bridges to the south. But one of the largest reasons for Cairo's decline has been linked to racism. Racial turmoil, and an economic boycott in the 1960s and 1970s (when many white business owners chose to close their businesses rather than hire Black people) lead to a steep decline in the town's population. The town's population peaked at around 15,000 people in 1920. Now, the population is around 1,700 people.

We drove into town, under a decorative arch welcoming us into "Historic Downtown Cairo." But most of the old buildings that once lined these streets are gone, replaced with grass-filled lots. But there are still some interesting old buildings still standing, which give a glimpse of what the town must have once looked like. This is the old Cairo Board of Trade Building, which was built in 1912.



The building held retail and office space. It is now completely abandoned, but it still exudes a quiet and solemn beauty through the boarded up windows and broken facade.



Next door is this old Italianate-style house that was built in the 19th century.





The front door of the house was completely hidden by overgrown vines. 







And a few more pictures from the front of the Board of Trade Building:





On the next block over is the old Gem Theater. It was first built in 1910, but underwent massive renovations after fires in 1924 and 1934. It was a live performance theater and then was used as a movie theater. It closed in 1978, and despite efforts to revitalize it has been left abandoned and empty.



The side of the building has been almost engulfed by vines and vegetation.



We found a way to take a quick peek inside, which seemed to show that it was still in somewhat decent shape.





Next door to the Gem Theater was this building, which once held the Cairo Chamber of Commerce.



And this is the view of the back of the Board of Trade Building, covered in vines.



And one last picture from Cairo. These commercial buildings were constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They are almost the only buildings remaining on Commercial Street, which was once the main road in the downtown historic district. They are now empty and abandoned, a shell of what they once were.



There was much more to see here, and I wished we had more time to look around. But we had a full day of driving ahead of us and we needed to get back on the road. So we then left Cairo and Illinois, and crossed over the river into Missouri...