How Come Cairo, IL Never Became a Major City? (Chicago: earthquakes, centers)

[Hudlander]

Cairo, IL is located at the junction of the two most important inland navigable rivers in North America - if not the western hemisphere, the Ohio and Mississippi. One would think this would have spurred a huge metropolitan area, but it did not.
We see metro areas such as Pittsburgh (Ohio, Mon, Allegheny), Cincinnati (Ohio), St, Louis/Minneapolis (Mississippi) to name a few, how come this critical area never became a major metro area?

And if not Cairo then that general area at the rivers junction.

[eddie gein]

Interesting question. Myriad of answers.


But Cairo was never going to get too big because there wasn't much land between the rivers. It Had a severe flooding issue. If it were to have grown to major city size it would have had to have grown north towards Mounds, Ill. and the rest of it's metro area would have had to have been in Missouri and Kentucky. Which means it wouldn't have been Cairo, Ill. in those places.

[mhays25]

Does the area to the south (around Wyatt) have a similar flooding issue? It seems like being just south of the river junction would be ideal for some functions. The state line seems to follow outdated river alignments in some spots, so that's a clue.

Maybe it's never been that important to serve as the collector / break bulk spot at the river junction, or that was Cairo when it mattered but it never mattered enough to flood-proof the area at scale.

[GWoodle]

Most important may have been the coming of the railroads. From the New York Central to the Pennsylvania to the Baltimore & Ohio suddenly after the Civil War freight traffic moved east & west. The rivers lost most of their traffic. Not sure if the junction of the Mississippi with the Ohio was ever that important. Once the steamboat era was over Cairo was doomed.

Cairo is too far south from St Louis or Chicago to be part of the national network. The lack of space makes it difficult to be a large metropolitan area.

On the Ohio you have to look at city centers like Metropolis IL. Paducah Ky, Evansville IN , Louisville KY as areas that better serve their region. On the Mississippi you have to go to St Louis or Memphis to find sizeable cities. Cairo is too isolated to serve anything.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by GWoodle

Most important may have been the coming of the railroads. From the New York Central to the Pennsylvania to the Baltimore & Ohio suddenly after the Civil War freight traffic moved east & west. The rivers lost most of their traffic. Not sure if the junction of the Mississippi with the Ohio was ever that important. Once the steamboat era was over Cairo was doomed.

Cairo is too far south from St Louis or Chicago to be part of the national network. The lack of space makes it difficult to be a large metropolitan area.

On the Ohio you have to look at city centers like Metropolis IL. Paducah Ky, Evansville IN , Louisville KY as areas that better serve their region. On the Mississippi you have to go to St Louis or Memphis to find sizeable cities. Cairo is too isolated to serve anything.

Cairo is really choked by the Mississippi and the Ohio and Paducah on the Ohio is not too far away and was probably just situated better to be a better/bigger river city.

[Hudlander]

OK the point is, why didn't any major city develop in this critical area, if not Cairo?

[GWoodle]

Originally Posted by mhays25

Does the area to the south (around Wyatt) have a similar flooding issue? It seems like being just south of the river junction would be ideal for some functions. The state line seems to follow outdated river alignments in some spots, so that's a clue.

Maybe it's never been that important to serve as the collector / break bulk spot at the river junction, or that was Cairo when it mattered but it never mattered enough to flood-proof the area at scale.

South of Cairo you run into the New Madrid Fault area. The earthquakes of 1811-1812 destroyed the town of New Madrid. Reelfoot Lake in TN was created. As you have found the state lines may follow a 1800 alignment of the centers of the rivers. Both the Ohio and the Mississippi have new riverbanks.

So there is nothing major until you get to Memphis. Dyersburg is the only city of any size some miles inland from the Mississippi.

In modern times I-155 was built to have an interstate connection from TN into MO. This is the only highway bridge between Cairo and Memphis.

US 60 & 62 cross on a steel bridge over the Ohio then immediately crosses the Mississippi. For some the Ohio river bridge has been replaced by the I-24 bridge near Paducah. Then there is the i-57 bridge from IL to MO.

[fusillirob1983]

Originally Posted by GWoodle

South of Cairo you run into the New Madrid Fault area. The earthquakes of 1811-1812 destroyed the town of New Madrid. Reelfoot Lake in TN was created. As you have found the state lines may follow a 1800 alignment of the centers of the rivers. Both the Ohio and the Mississippi have new riverbanks.

So there is nothing major until you get to Memphis. Dyersburg is the only city of any size some miles inland from the Mississippi.

In modern times I-155 was built to have an interstate connection from TN into MO. This is the only highway bridge between Cairo and Memphis.

US 60 & 62 cross on a steel bridge over the Ohio then immediately crosses the Mississippi. For some the Ohio river bridge has been replaced by the I-24 bridge near Paducah. Then there is the i-57 bridge from IL to MO.

Interesting. Upon looking at Google maps, the western tip of Kentucky is surrounded by the Mississippi River and therefore Missouri and Tennessee, completely detaching it from the rest of Kentucky. This is directly south of New Madrid.

[Kmanshouse]

I heard it was largely due to the constant flooding the city would get. People left.

[johnsonkk]

The whole area is prone to flooding, not just the immediate area in and around Cairo.

And with two rivers, the chance for flooding is double.

Related pictorial with images showing the flooding impact. Not posting link to highlight Corps of Engineers decisions or indecisions but the graphics are helpful to show the extent of flooding in the entire area. Miles and miles…

https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/cairo-floodway