The Ghost Town of Cairo, Illinois
How racial unrest and prejudice destroyed a once-thriving city
Cairo, Illinois was slated to be the new boomtown of the Midwest. Situated at the juncture of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, Cairo was poised to take over the region as the most economically important city. So how did Cairo go from a city on the rise to a virtual ghost town?
A city on the rise
Cairo is located at the southernmost point of Illinois and is the seat of Alexander County. Situated at the meeting point of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, steamboat traffic of the 1800s made Cairo an economic hotbed.
With the completion of the Illinois Central Railroad in 1856, the city became even more interconnected in shipping goods across the Midwest. Citizens predicted that Cairo would surpass St. Louis, Louisville, and Cincinnati as urban centers in the area. Trade flourished as Cairo was connected to northern cities via railroad and southern cities via riverway.
