[Was looking this up to check the pronunciation, which I believe is Kay-Roh, not like the Egyptian city, and I came across this uber-semitically correct site with some interesting racial history.]

Just the Facts

NOTE: The data that follows derives primarily from the 2000 U.S. census. Comparative data for the U.S. at large and for the St. Louis metro area are presented to establish perspective. St. Louis was chosen because it is the largest city on the river as well as smack dab in the middle.

* Population
o Cairo: 3,632 total, 55.7% female, 44.3% male.
o United States: 288,368,298 total, 50.9% female, 49.1% male.
o St. Louis: 2,646,198 total, 52% female, 48% male.
* Age Groups
o Cairo: 12.5% under 18 years old, 17.9% over 64 years old, 69.6% in between.
o United States: 13.3% under 18 years old, 12.5% over 64 years old, 74.3% in between.
o St. Louis: 11.1% under 18 years old, 14.1% over 64 years old, 74.8% in between.
* Race
o Cairo: 100% human, 63% black, 36% white, 1% other.
o United States: 100% human, 75.1% white, 12.3% black, 12.5% hispanic.
o St. Louis: 100% human, 76.8% white, 19% black, 1% asian, 1.4% hispanic.
* Education
o Cairo: 67.3% high school or better, 7.2% college degree or better.
o United States: 80.4% high school or better, 24.4% college degree or better.
o St. Louis: 88% high school or better, 35.4% college degree or better.
* Unemployment
o Cairo: 14% unemployment (38% over 16 listed as "not in the work force").
o United States: 6% unemployment (34.7% over 16 listed as "not in the work force").
o St. Louis: 5% unemployment (33.4% over 16 listed as "not in the work force").
* Income
o Cairo: $16,220 per capita income, 33.5% below poverty level.
o United States: $21,857 per capita income, 12.4% below poverty level.
o St. Louis: $27,595 per capita income, 6.9% below poverty level.
* Climate
o Cairo:
o United States:
o St. Louis:

Cairo Illinois is the strangest city on the river. It feels like your visiting a motion picture set from the 1950s and all the actors, save a few strays, have cleared the streets to hide from some impending doom. You glance back over your shoulder expecting to see the alien spaceships begin their attack or a six story high praying mantis chewing on the power lines.

Cairo is a sad place. It really feels abandoned. The population is roughly 3000 which on face value seems like a healthy number, but the city was built to sustain a population five times larger. The buildings are still there, large stone banks, churches, and government buildings; grand in design, but with their promise unfulfilled. They look sad standing their abandoned.

Cairo is even sadder in light of its recent history. The region was experiencing an economic decline before the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and this decline can certainly be blamed for part of the depression Cairo now suffers. But many people will tell you that Cairo above all else is a victim of the racial hatred that its citizens could not overcome. During the civil rights movement Cairo was beset by shootings, street riots and a boycott of white owned businesses (that would be all businesses). The boycott dragged on for a decade. Rather than hire blacks the white store owners one after another just closed shop and left. Cairo is the city that died from racism. You can read an account of Cairo's struggle in the book Let My People Go: Cairo, Illinois, 1967-1973 by Jan Peterson Roddy and featuring the photos of Preston Ewing Jr.

Cairo is located at the southernmost tip of the state of Illinois where the Ohio river meets the Mississippi. Its strategic importance both economically and militarily are obvious and historically Cairo has fulfilled those roles. The city park that now sits at the very point of land where the two rivers meet was once the location of Fort Defiance. I found various dates listed for the founding of Cairo, sufice it to say that a permanent settlement had attached itself to this land at the confluence of these two great rivers by 1820. The problem with trying to live in Cairo back then (and still today) is the very rivers that make the location strategic. Most sensible cities along these rivers are situated on high ground. For example right across the Ohio is Wickliffe Kentucky which sits hundreds of feet above the river on a bluff. Cairo's high ground is their levee. Both the Ohio and the Mississippi have a regular habit of trying to wash little Cairo away. This may have something to do with the confusion I encountered when I tried to look up a founding date for the town. They had to found it more than once.

Today Cairo sits behind sixty foot high levee walls on all sides. The town has a most novel solution for dealing with the rampaging rivers. Look at the map at the very top of the page. First note the levees surounding the city. Now follow the railroad bridge across the river from Kentucky and note where the map is marked Cairo gate. On the Illinois side of the river the railroad is running on top of the levee that closes off the city from behind. To enter the city you pass through a tunnel that goes under the railroad. Hanging above the entrance to the tunnel is a huge blue steel gate. The land outside of town (mostly farm land) is also protected by levees. But, should the pressure on the Cairo levees become too great, the city drops the gate at the back end of town and then dynamites either the Ohio or Mississippi levee further up. This drastic action allows the flood water to pour out over thousands of acres of farm land and so relieve the pressure on the city levee. At that point Cairo becomes a sunken island surrounded on all sides by nearly sixty feet of water. The scheme of a lunatic no doubt. Some day the rivers will win.

Remnants of Cairo's past grandeur remain strewn around town and provide the focus for an interesting tour of the city. Cairo's glory days were during the later half of the 19th century and the early 20th century. As a major shipping port it was the economic center of the region. Most people are unaware of just how much tonnage is shipped on Cairo's rivers. The Ohio is navigable along its entire length from Cairo to Pittsburgh and the Mississippi is navigable from Minneapolis to the Gulf. On any one day more tonnage passes by Cairo at the confluence of these two rivers than goes through the Panama canal. Today, unfortunately for Cairo, most of the tows that pass by on the rivers have no need to stop. They no longer carry passengers who might be bound for Cairo or need to stop over there. Few of them require a refueling stop and Cairo no longer serves as an exchange port where the cargo from the tows is either loaded or unloaded. As the variety of barge cargo has decreased and overall tonnage has increased, the tow traffic has concentrated in fewer and larger ports.

At the end of last year, 2003, Cairo was stunned by the news that Bunge would soon idle its soybean processing facility -- the only large industrial employer left in the area. Bunge's plant in Cairo was the last viable business of consequence bringing work and money into the city. As I write this a year later there is no plan to reopen the facility. Without jobs to fuel a local economy Cairo's fate is sealed. The nearest industry still operating is the paper mill across the river in Kentucky. Jobs in Cape Girardeau MO or Paducah KY are more than an hour drive one way. Recent attempts by the city to promote the area for tourism appear to be dismal failures. As I said, Cairo is a sad place.

Update: I'm not sure of all the details but it looks like the Bunge plant in Cairo has been re-opened under a special program to process high-protein-yeild soybeans. Success of this program could be an important economic boost to Cairo.

But let's not end this account on a sad note. If you've spent any time reading elsewhere on this website you may know that I'm always on the look out for a good local BBQ sandwich. Well, Cairo has one of the very best BBQ pork sandwichs available on the banks of the Mississippi. Darrell Shemwell's BBQ on Washington in downtown Cairo is worth the trip, especially if you live anywhere in Texas or Kansas City and you'd like to know what the genuine article taste's like. Shemwell's pork is exquisitely seasoned and roasted to perfection. The sause is tangy and slightly hot -- definitely homemade -- not the norm, and suprisingly addictive. It's a yellow sause that is not tomato based. At first you'll be suspicious, then you'll be buying a bottle to take home and asking them if they ship UPS. Their coleslaw is a contender as well. This could easily be the best BBQ sandwich you've ever eaten. Memphis is just an hour and a half drive down river and by reputation the BBQ capital of the country. Well, all you BBQ fans out there take note: The next time you make a pilgrimage to Memphis to eat BBQ, plan for a short detour via Cairo. Stop at Shemwell's and Memphis won't seem quite so special anymore.

http://users.stlcc.edu/jangert/cairo/cairo.html