The Saddest Town in America: Cairo, Illinois 4K

[Music] [Applause] how's it going everyone if you enjoy my videos make sure you like subscribe and check out my channel for more I'm currently at where the Ohio River and Mississippi River meet they are two of the largest rivers in the United States the Mississippi River is actually the largest river in the United States the Ohio River is either the second or third largest I believe third largest and the Missouri River is the second largest however here right now the Ohio River is in major flood stage at 52 feet and it is flooded so is the Mississippi River the area around it you can tell in the farmlands man they're just soaked also right here is a town called Cairo Illinois some of you may have heard of Cairo Illinois some of you may have not however this is a town of about 2,000 people at its peak Cairo had 15,000 people some of you are familiar with Cairo story I'm sure and the state of condition that the town is currently in some of you may not be aware of that however that's why I'm here is to show you it has a very unique history and a very interesting story does Cairo and it kind of rivals the history of some of the larger cities in the US and that's what makes this place unique the thing that is different about Cairo you know it has suffered a lot of violence in its history and a lot of racial riots what makes Cairo different is that it is such a small town out in the middle of nowhere it is not near a major metropolitan area it is near Memphis Tennessee that is about two and a half hours away then you also have st. Louis which is about three to four hours northwest Chicagoland is four to five hours north so there is no metro area near here economic development is very little if there is any at all and the county that Cairo is in is called Alexander County at its peak population there is twenty five thousand people that lived here now there's only five thousand five hundred so very little economic activity there's actually not a single gas station open in this town or a grocery store there are convenience stores and there is a dollar general north of town but that's about it so it's not very promising here and to be honest with you I'm not sure how much longer this place is going to exist all it's going to take is a great flood or a continuation of the economic patterns that we have been seeing here and even though Cairo has not flooded since the levees have been built here you don't know because back in 2011 the government almost decided to flood Cairo over some farmland further south in southern Missouri that is profitable because it's fertile farmland and instead the government at the last minute decided to flood the farmland further south and that did not make the farmers down they're happy but if they would have flooded Cairo up here that would have not made the residents up here happy so and it's also kind of written in law that they have to flood the farmland further south instead of the town of Cairo it is written in law so they had to do it if you're not aware of Cairo I'm here to show you in this video I start several miles north of Cairo and I head south through what you could call suburbs of Cairo through Urbandale and future city and you'll see why I show you those places here in a few seconds [Music] if you enjoy my videos make sure you like subscribe and check out my channel for more karo is several miles south of here karo gets its name from Cairo Egypt this whole part of southern Illinois is referred to as little Egypt as this area has very fertile farmland similar to the Nile Delta region in Egypt Cairo and Alexandria are the biggest cities in Egypt and are in the Nile Delta while Cairo is the county seat of Alexander County go figure Alexander County at its peak had a population of 25,000 today it has only an estimated 5,500 with a 27% poverty rate making it the poorest County in Illinois [Music] this is Urbandale a few miles north of Cairo there's not much out there on Urbandale when you try looking it up it looks like it's seen better days it's very sad to see anywhere that looks like this but especially isolated communities like ones in this part of southern Illinois where the tax base is shrinking every year sucking away more hope with every person that leaves [Music] you know I don't dive into politics and I don't live in Illinois but after doing research it's more clear than ever that Illinois is three states in one Chi cago land is a state of its own followed by central Illinois and southern Illinois small towns struggle in every state however Illinois seems to be in its own category of having their small towns being ignored there's something fishy about Illinois politics and it's no secret it's one of the least business friendly and highest tax states out there setting up shop in Indiana Missouri and Kentucky can provide your family with a better future because of the taxes here making it even harder for these rural counties and towns in Illinois to rebuild their economies [Music] [Music] you [Music] this is future City the town is not protected by levees and it was devastated by a flood in 1912 the city rebuilt itself however in 1913 the town was once again destroyed by a flood as just about every building here was damaged and moved by the floodwaters the town couldn't be saved and now it's mostly an empty grid of streets with only a few people living here [Music] [Music] we will be in Cairo Illinois shortly the city was founded in 1857 I personally find the story of Cairo to be fascinating it's a cool entrance that you make into the town going under three tunnels one of the tunnels serves as a flood wall for when the river levels get really high and the government is forced to possibly break levees and flood the surrounding land when that happens the city will close the flood wall over the roadway completely protecting Cairo and making it in island even though Cairo has the lowest elevation in the state of Illinois at three hundred and fifteen feet above sea level it has not suffered a flood since the levee system and flood wall was completed back in 1914 the system is designed to protect Cairo from floods up to 64 feet when I visited the town the Ohio River was at 52 feet one foot higher and it would have been considered to be in major flood stage as we cross through the tunnels Cairo High School is immediately to the right home of the pilots [Music] [Music] to the left ahead we will pass an open grass area it is one of two former sites of apartment complexes that were demolished in the summer of 2019 it is April 3rd 2020 when I filmed this video both apartment complexes combined for 280 living units and supported 15% of the town's population the site on the left was formerly the site of the Elmwood housing units the reason for demolition was forced by Federals as the buildings were considered to be unsafe for living full of asbestos out-of-date plumbing and poor insulation I have attached a video link below in the description when vice news does a story on both apartment complexes as we drive through this street you can see that there are some houses in good condition still they're all owned by homeowners as well the problem for the people that lived in the now demolished apartments is that the only houses available on the market or investor specials if you will there are basically no homes for sale that are move-in ready in this town [Music] during the Civil War in 1861 the US Navy made Cairo and Naval Station for the Mississippi River squadron in 1862 general ulysses s grant had Fort Defiance built to protect the confluence of the rivers Kiro grew in its early days as a shipping hub given its location at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi River once a railroad came through the town that boosted the economy more and made Cairo a transportation hub there were no bridges over the rivers early on which allowed passenger ferries to employ people in the town in the mid 1940s the population had peaked at fifteen thousand residents [Music] [Music] the hospital ahead has stood vacant since 1986 as Cairo has been without one since then it was originally called st. Mary's Hospital and then later it was called Southern Medical Center many people that still live in the town however were born at this hospital in order to get to a hospital from Cairo today you have to drive over 30 minutes to either Sikeston or Cape Girardeau Missouri in the field to the right past the blockade of the street is the second apartment complex that was demolished in the summer of 2019 it was called the McBride housing units once again for a featured story that looks more into both the Elmwood and McBride housing units I have attached a link to a video done by vice news in the description below meanwhile I take a lap around the site that used to be called the McBride housing units [Music] as I turn on to 8th Street I enter historic downtown Cairo over half of the buildings that once stood here are gone and one year from today there might even be more buildings that get demolished to the left is the historic gym theater I'm not sure when I first heard of Cairo Illinois but I know that I visited the town for the first time back in 2011 there were definitely more buildings up during that time than there are now and I wish I had a camera with me when I did visit to compare what it looked like within a 10 year gap but I guess I just will have to rely on Google Streetview [Music] [Music] I can only imagine what a once looked like during Cara's peak with buildings lining both sides of the street which is called commercial Avenue however I'm not sure if that was a good time to be alive most of the reason why Cara looks the way it does today is because of racial tensions and violence in July of 1967 an african-american soldier that was home on leave was found hung in the Cairo Police Station every police officer was white African Americans began rioting the day after and it was a part of many other major US cities that began rioting due to racial injustice back in the summer of 1967 in response to the rioting the white community of Cairo led by the sheriff formed a group called the white hats citizens that were a part of the group wore a white hat and started patrolling the streets in December of 1969 more riots broke out and this time businesses were burned as African Americans were not given a fair chance at employment at many of those businesses in response to that in 1970 the city adopted an ordinance banning picketing within 20 feet of a business that created even more violence and riots from the African American community and I can't imagine being part of a group of people that treated another group of people so poorly just because they looked different than me that's a lot of what happened here and not only here but across much of the United States unfortunately so it happened here however on a worse scale than it did in many other places and for that reason I'm not sure if Cairo ever was a good place to live on top of that the economy was not growing jobs were leaving town rather than coming into town the railroad industry declined and barges replaced the once profitable steamboat industry that brought the town many jobs given its location economically Caro relied on transportation more than anything as the economy was almost entirely fueled by railroads steamboats ferries and vehicle traffic as he once had to pass through the town to get to either Missouri or Kentucky once I 57 was built through the area and bypassed the town in 1978 nobody had a reason to drive through Cairo anymore from 1945 to 1950 the town lost 16 percent of residents from 1950 to 1960 the town lost 23 percent in the following census counts the town lost in order 33 percent 5 percent 18 percent 25 percent 22 percent and then from 2010 to now the town lost an estimated 23 percent of its residents with just over 2,000 people remaining today for a more in-depth look at Cairo I have attached a link to a very well-done documentary on the town in the description below the video goes more in-depth describing what happened including interviews with residents and other people that lived here during the riots in the late 1960s [Music] on the right ahead is an apartment building that I'm guessing has every unit occupied since there just is nowhere else available to live in this town many people want to stay here because their families are here and it's what they know and that's completely understandable it's hard to leave home some people want to leave but can't leave because they don't have enough money to make the move and that is sad there's barely anywhere to work here to make a living all the businesses have shuttered long ago leaving the unemployment rate in Cairo at 7.2 percent which is double the US average [Music] [Music] [Music] as I make the left turn ahead there's another view of the old southern medical center that I talked about earlier [Music] [Music] as I turn left here this is what is known as Millionaire's Row full of beautiful houses that were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s stay tuned to the very end to see some more shots that I took from driving through this town [Music] [Music] I finished the driving portion of the video with a straight drive down the main drag us 51 after that I finished everything with a few more b-roll shots that I took in the city if you enjoy my videos make sure you like subscribe and check out my channel for more [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Chris Harden

Views: 262,682

Rating: 4.6561155 out of 5

Keywords: Cairo, Illinois, Cairo Illinois, Road Trip, Ghost Towns, Ghost Town, Ghost Towns in Illinois, Alexander County, Midwest, South, Mid-South, 1960's Riots, Race Riots, USA, United States of America, Ohio River, Mississippi River, Ohio River Towns, Mississippi River Towns, Bad Drivers, Dash Cam, Road Rage, Cars, St. Louis, Saint Louis, Memphis, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Bridges, Trains, Steamboats, Barges, Ferries, History, Civil War, Illinois History, Abraham Lincoln, Chicago, Interstate

Id: Dm81ynWvUsM

Length: 34min 57sec (2097 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 24 2020