Very nice, reminds me of my hometown, East side Buffalo New York.

Cool, but why did the townsfolk leave in a hurry?

Really enjoyed the photos. It also reminds me of where I was raised, Fitchburg, MA. All the old factorys there are shut down and have been for many many years. When I was there last fall it all looked just like I remembered from my childhood. It is sad really.

I haven't been to Cairo in years, but I don't live too far from there. It was quite a place back in the day, but now it's a very depressed area and not a very safe place to go.

Gee Rosemary - Cairo sounds like the perfect project for a nearby college to adopt. What a great opportunity to teach students - history, oral history, architectural influences, social history, economics.

I remember reading about the race riots. Thanks for sharing. Reading the descriptions beneath the photos I noticed you feel you should be living in the 1920's. Ok, now's your chance. If you could come back in that time period - what do you think you'd be doing?

I'm wondering, too, why people left so quickly. It's a neat looking town.
Can you give us a brief history lesson Rosemary?
Thanks.

Ron

From what I gathered reading under the photos, the Sears Manufactured Homes plant shut down, and there were racial problems there. Probably a lot of job loss. I think the town is beautiful. It reminds me of my little hometown. It would be nice if some group could restore it. Some of that is being done in Valley, where I lived until 2000. It did look like some of the streets were paved with new bricks though, so maybe someone has started some work.
Leslie

Neat town!

Rosemary, your pix really do justice to Cairo. I had never been in Cairo until we stopped for gas on way to Texas a while back. And it is dismal! Poor little town.

But as a child growing up in southwestern Illinois, I do recall hearing stories about "that place". The inference by the "grownups" was that it was a wide open town for all sort of "sinful" things. Like gambling, drinking, carousing. Thats an old word, for sure.

While I have absolutely no real knowledge OR facts of this being the truth, this is something I remember hearing.

How sad to see beautiful old buildings rotting. Thank you for all your research on Sears Homes. I wish I could say I live in one, but do not. My home has no actual date of when it was built, but the land transfer was 1866 and that is the date used for age of the house. It, by no means is a mansion nor anything fancy, and lots of upkeep, but it would take a tornado- God forbid- to move it.

Keep up the good work
Jan

i swear my dad said it (during prohibition) was one of the worst places in the world to go, that and the ky town just across the river...tried to google but guess they're not talking, lol...

Susan, the town just across the river is Paducah, Kentucky. It's in a *lot* better shape than Cairo, IL.

I had a heckuva time getting people to talk to me when I first went to Cairo in 2003, to do research for my book. I've done a lot of traveling and a lot of interviewing, but I have *NEVER* seen such a tight-lipped bunch as the residents of Cairo, IL. And then I met a fellow-history lover who lived in Cairo and he introduced me around and got people to talk to me. He was an angel and a wonderful blessing.

He showed me this huge cement slab on the corner of the main drag and a nice wide side street. It was once a busy intersection. He explained that this massive cement slab was once the site of the community swimming pool (in the early 1960s). It was "whites only" and when some black kids got in the pool, there was trouble. And then a black soldier was found hung in the local jail and riots started and the National Guard was called in to restore order.

The race riots were awful and the town never did recover. Population plummeted and people just packed up and left. There's a book on this topic titled, "Let my People Go" and I have a copy (but I can't seem to find it right now" and it's a pictorial history of this awful time in Cairo's history.

Rose

Here is a link that might be useful: fascinating link with more info

Oh wow.
Such history...sad but history nonetheless.
It would be great if the town could be restored!

Thanks Rosemary.
What you do is fascinating and I'm glad you share your stories with us

Lori

Before direct dial came along, I worked as an information operator in central Illinois when I was in college. The town name is pronounced the same as Karo syrup. You could tell if it was a native from the area as to how they pronounced the city name.

The other little town there that has a "mispronounced" name is San Jose, and it rhymes with banjos. If I got someone asking for San Jose with the Spanish pronunciation, likely as not it was someone looking for a phone number in California, and the long distance operator had done a sloppy job of connecting them to San Jose, Illinois, information. Again, how the caller pronounced the name told us which state they thought they were calling.

I love Cairo. I have friends who live in Carbondale, and when I visit them I ALWAYS go down to Cairo.

There's a little diner/restaurant I stop at every time I'm there. Food is cheap and GOOD. I'm always afraid that it's going to be closed...