Cairo is a city in Alexander County, Illinois in the United States. The population was 3,632 at the 2000
census. It is the county seat of Alexander
County. The city's name is pronounced /ˈkero/, differently from the English name for the capital city of Egypt.
Cairo is located at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the
Ohio River and is the southernmost town in the state of Illinois. Cairo is one of the few towns in Illinois protected by a levee. The
rivers converge at what is the southernmost point in Illinois at Fort Defiance State
Park, an American Civil War fort that was commanded by General
Ulysses S. Grant.
History
Cairo was founded in 1837 by the Cairo City and Canal Company, after an earlier effort
(1818) had failed, and incorporated as a city in
1858. For fifteen years the town grew slowly, but the sale of lots, which commenced in
1853, and the completion of the Illinois Central
Railroad attracted settlers, with the result that by 1860 the population exceeded 2,000. It
was an important steamboat port in the nineteenth
century; Cairo even had its own Customs House, which has since been converted into a museum. This important structure was
designed by Alfred B. Mullet, the U.S. Supervising Architect during Reconstruction, and is one of only seven of his structures
remaining. During the American Civil War, Cairo was of great strategic importance and
for several months both Grant and Foote had headquarters there. The town has a number of fine examples of prosperous
nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century architecture, included Magnolia
Manor and Riverlore Mansion. Much of the city, even in some areas of decay, is listed on the Nation Register of Historic
Places. The population of Cairo has declined from a 1920 high of 15,203 to 3,632 in 2000. There is a movement to stop this slow
abandonment, and restore Cairo's architectural landmarks, develop tourism focusing on its history, and bring new opportunities
back to the community.
Image:Cairo3 (7).JPG
Cairo abandonment
1997 Aerial view of Cairo, IL. Ohio River in foreground, Mississippi River in background.
In 1969, Cairo, the most prominent segregated town in the state of Illinois, was the site of
an intense civil rights struggle. The threat of violence
resulted in the National Guard being called in to restore order. White-owned businesses were boycotted in a protest led by the
United Front civil rights organization. Despite these events, Cairo has slowly emerged from this contention within the town.
Cairo today faces many significant socio-economic challenges, including poverty, education, and employment. There is now a
community clinic offering medical and dental care, and also several mental health services. Much of Cairo’s turbulent history was
chronicled on a music CD called Greetings From Cairo, Illinois
released in 2005.
1937 Flood
In January of 1937, a massive flood ravaged the central United States. The
Ohio River, which was usually high in the winter, spilled over, causing more than $75 million
worth of damages. The Ohio had seemed harmless, but conditions of unusually high water, snow melting in the mountains, eighteen
straight days of precipitation, and the low level of the towns of Shawneetown and
Cairo combined so that these two small towns were almost completely covered by water.
The Ohio River began rising on January 5,
1937, but it was not a flood at first. On January 20, experts predicted that the river would reach
fifty-two feet in average depth. However, the seawalls (wooden or metal walls constructed along the shoreline to prevent erosion)
were sixty feet high. This, coupled with the fact that the river was generally very high (around forty-five feet) at this time of
year, gave area residents a sense of security. Even experts were not worried. They were quoted as saying that neither Cairo nor
Shawneetown, cities that would be in serious trouble if there were a flood, were in danger.
The experts, however, were very wrong. On January 22, rain began falling all along the
river. It rained, hailed, and sleeted for eighteen days straight. Unusually high temperatures of about fifty degrees in the
mountains that feed the Ohio caused the snow to melt, and a torrent surged down the river. These two conditions caused the
average water level in the river to increase two feet per day. On the third day, people who watched the banks of the river in
Shawneetown and Cairo said that they could see the sand within ten feet of the seawall literally boiling from the water pressing
under it. Shawneetown and Cairo were evacuated.
On January 31, the water was ten feet over the seawalls in Cairo and Shawneetown. That
day, an especially large surge of water from the mountains came in. The river raged, and Cairo and Shawneetown were nearly
covered in water. Correction: Cairo was never flooded during the 1937 flood.
Rescue boats were sent out in the rain to help victims. The nearby Illinois towns of Harrisburg, Rosiclare, Elizabethtown and
Golconda were isolated by water. Over three hundred bridges were smashed, six schools were ruined, and twelve hundred submerged
homes left more than a thousand people homeless.
Flooding was not a new thing to these lowland Ohio River towns. Between 1901 and 1937, eight accounts of flooding had been
recorded in Shawneetown and Cairo. The first flood crested at forty-three feet in Cairo, and only caused minor problems, the
worst being the flooding of the river's bottomlands. Each flood's crest thereafter raised a few feet. The fifth event, in 1912,
crested at fifty-four feet, with water surrounding all of Cairo. Most of these floods caused crop loss and minor property damage.
However, no one was prepared for the crest of sixty-five feet in 1937, which caused fifty-six communities to be evacuated. The
actual crest is recorded by the National Weather Service as 59.51 feet, within 0.4 inches of topping the floodwall.
In the town of Harrisburg, Illinois, much of the city, except "Crusoes's
Island", was underwater. After that, a levee was erected north and east of the city to protect it from future floods. The levee
became the official northern and eastern border of the town. Many people were surprised that water from the river could reach
that far inland, nearly 30 miles inland. Harrisburg was nearly wiped off the map.
The flood finally subsided on February 9, 1937. Seventy-five
million dollars in damages had been caused, and that was in 1937 when one dollar was equivalent to twelve dollars now. The
damages would be equal to nearly one billion dollars today.
In fact, there was so much damage caused to Shawneetown that it actually had to be relocated to a higher area three miles away
from the river. That new town is now called New Shawneetown, Ill.
Historical places
Entering Cairo, Illinois. The massive gate that closes the town's protective levee is visible behind the railroad bridge.
- Magnolia Manor
- The Riverlore
- Gem Theatre
- The Cairo Custom House
- A.B. Safford Memorial Library
- Fort Defiance State Park
- U.S. Post Office
- The Hewer
Geography
Cairo is located at 37°0′47″N, 89°10′49″W (37.013144,
-89.180345) (see Geographic references).1 The elevation above sea level is 315 feet (96 m).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area
of 23.6 km² (9.1 mi²), including
5.4 km² (2.1 mi²) of water (22.78% of the total area).
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 3,632 people, 1,561 households, and 900 families residing in
the city. The population density was 198.9/km² (515.1/mi²). There were 1,885 housing
units at an average density of 103.2 per km² (267.3 per mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 35.93% White, 61.70% Black or African American, 0.08% Native American, 0.72% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.36% from other races, and 1.18% from two or more races; 0.74% of the population
were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 1,561 households out of which 30.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 29.3% were married couples living together, 25.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.3% were
non-families. Of all households, 39.7% are made up of individuals and 17.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or
older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.08.
The age distribution is 30.4% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 22.0% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% 65
years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there were 79.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and
over, there were 70.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $21,607, and the median income for a family was $28,242. Males had a median
income of $28,798 versus $18,125 for females. The per capita income for the city was
$16,220. Of the population as a whole, 33.5% lives below the poverty line, as compared with 27.1% of families. Out of the total
population, 47.0% of those under the age of 18 and 20.9% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Education
The city is served by Cairo Unit School District 1.
The district has two elementary schools, Bennett Elementary School and Emerson Elementary School. Middle and high school
students attend Cairo Junior/Senior High School.
See also
Trivia
Cairo at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers
- Cairo's location on a slip of land that lies between the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers made multiplexing US 51, 60 and 62
briefly through Illinois more practical than directly connecting Missouri and Kentucky. The result of Cairo's position as a critical highway junction is that Missouri and Kentucky are the
only states to border each other with no direct highway connection between them.
- Cairo is mentioned unflatteringly in Charles Dickens' American Notes. Dickens writes, "...a hotbed of disease, an ugly sepulchre, a grave uncheered by
any gleam of promise: a place without one single quality, in earth or air or water, to commend it: such is this dismal
Cairo."
- Reaching Cairo is the goal of Huck and his slave friend Jim in the famous book Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark
Twain, because, as Cairo was a major river port, the two could take a steamboat from there north to freedom.
- Cairo could be considered part of the South, because it is farther south than Richmond, VA by latitude.
- Cairo is equidistant to Chicago and Jackson, Mississippi.
- Cairo is mentioned in the book American Gods, by Neil
Gaiman.
- Four Major League Baseball players were born in Cairo - John Healy (1866), Ed Morgan (1904), Chet Covington (1910), and Vern Curtis (1920). Cairo had its own
minor-league team (variously known as the Egyptians, Champions and Giants) in the Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League from 1903-06, 1911-14 and 1922-24.
- Negro League Pitcher: Frank "Chip" McAllister - Born: April 29, 1918 - Died: May 5, 1987. Chip played from 1938 to 1946 for
the Indianapolis ABC's, St, Louis Stars, New Orleans-St. Louis Stars, New York Black Yankees, Harrisburg-St. Louis Stars,
Brooklyn Brown Dodgers and Cleveland Clippers. He was a big right-handed pitcher and occassional outfielder.
References
External links
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Coordinates:
37.013144° N 89.180345°
W
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