Cairo Info (Chicago, Springfield, Louisville: neighborhood, theater, safe)

[cansv]

There's a new book on Cairo's turbulent history in the 1970 called "Faith in Black Power: Religion, Race, and Resistance in Cairo, Illinois (Civil Rights and the Struggle for Black Equality in the Twentieth Century)" by Kerry Pimblott. A look on Amazon will give a sense of the contents.

[Jacobo1]

Cairo mayor 'distraught,' 'frustrated' after HUD eviction notice - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

Looks like HUD is kicking people out of housing complexes. Its probably time to let the rivers take Cairo and just finish the place off. Sounds like that place died a long time ago.

[pvande55]

Mark Twain once described Cairo as the Promised Land. Of course that was over a century ago. Being right at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, it probably was prosperous at the time.

[BLS2753]

Originally Posted by Jacobo1

Cairo mayor 'distraught,' 'frustrated' after HUD eviction notice - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

Looks like HUD is kicking people out of housing complexes. Its probably time to let the rivers take Cairo and just finish the place off. Sounds like that place died a long time ago.

That's not going to happen. What will happen is that Cairo will assume the same status of dozens of other small towns of <5,000 population in this far end of the state. People from out of the area don't know the names of these places, and don't care to know. Cairo's notorious past is the only thing that draws attention to it. That and the race card.

No other town of Cairo's size draws so many number of threads on this forum. Some posters seem to have an obsession with it.

Nothing to see there, that isn't going elsewhere in far southern IL. Just that the other places are predominantly white.

[drro]

I just took a stroll through it on streetview and it sure does look pretty bad. Especially that old hospital and the other urban decay. The streetview images are from Nov 2015 or 2013, anybody know if has gotten better or worse since then?

[Jacobo1]

Originally Posted by drro

I just took a stroll through it on streetview and it sure does look pretty bad. Especially that old hospital and the other urban decay. The streetview images are from Nov 2015 or 2013, anybody know if has gotten better or worse since then?

well its not going to get better

[drro]

Originally Posted by Jacobo1

well its not going to get better

That's what I would have thought as well.

[karlsch]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants the state to spend $40 million to develop a river port in Cairo, where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers meet.

The rest of the story: https://wrex.com/2020/02/28/governor...port-in-cairo/

[dcisive]

there are tons of well done documentaries regarding Cairo back in the late 1800's and early 20th century when it was a tremendous thriving town for business, theater and more. Almost hard to believe it just decayed. Indeed racism hastened it's complete demise in the 1960's. A very sad but true situation. I remember when I was attending SIU in 72 it was hitting the skids big time with racial tensions and unrest causing the whites to head out altogether. A bit like what happened to the South Side of Chicago. I turned 13 and we moved and within several years after it was "white flight" at its heaviest and now the former neighborhood (Jeffrey Manor) is a drug/gang ridden mess with shootings on a regular basis.

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

Originally Posted by dcisive

there are tons of well done documentaries regarding Cairo back in the late 1800's and early 20th century when it was a tremendous thriving town for business, theater and more. Almost hard to believe it just decayed. Indeed racism hastened it's complete demise in the 1960's. A very sad but true situation. I remember when I was attending SIU in 72 it was hitting the skids big time with racial tensions and unrest causing the whites to head out altogether. A bit like what happened to the South Side of Chicago. I turned 13 and we moved and within several years after it was "white flight" at its heaviest and now the former neighborhood (Jeffrey Manor) is a drug/gang ridden mess with shootings on a regular basis.

So, in your opinion, is the neighborhood's decline the fault of white people for abandoning it? Seriously, is "White Flight" perceived as "White people are racist", or is it "White people have low tolerance for street crime, and move to better areas, when said crime begins to increase?" I myself am in the latter category, I'll live next door to anybody, providing they act reasonably with respect to their kids' behavior, trash, noise, and upkeep, and leave me and my stuff alone, as I would assume most people are. My own experience similar to yours was in Marquette Park, pretty much a shell of its former (much more desirable) self. Much of which, by the way, is a result of the decline in manufacturing on the south side. China's (and Mexico's) gain has largely been Chicago's loss.