Why Nobody Wants to Visit Cairo, Illinois Anymore

Why nobody wants to visit Cairo, Illinois anymore: in 1920 the census counted 15,203 people here, and in 2020 it counted 1,733. Every version of this Illinois river town came with a promise, and this documentary reads each one back against what's standing there now. Every place in this video is real, and every fact comes from a source listed below. #CairoIllinois #IllinoisHistory #UntoldIllinois Have you ever stood at the point where the Ohio meets the Mississippi? Tell us in the comments. Untold Illinois — The history they never told you. Subscribe:    / @untoldillinois   CHAPTERS 0:00 Why nobody goes to Cairo, Illinois 0:59 A bank with no town (1818) 3:32 The railroad town 5:02 The war town: Grant and Fort Defiance 8:30 The river town: Custom House and the 1889 bridge 10:43 The bridge that went around 12:20 November 1909 13:49 The walls: the 1937 flood 16:18 The boycott years 19:26 Spring 2011: Birds Point levee 23:06 What is left in Cairo today 26:07 What you can still see SOURCES F1: U.S. Decennial Census, Cairo city, Illinois - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo,_... F2: Wikipedia, "Cairo, Illinois" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo,_... F3: Charles Dickens, American Notes - https://victorianweb.org/art/illustra... F6: KRCU, "Almost Yesterday: Halliday Hotel Burns" - https://www.krcu.org/2023-08-29/almos... F7: National Park Service, "Cairo Custom House Museum" - https://www.nps.gov/places/cairo-cust... F8: Wikipedia, "Magnolia Manor (Cairo, Illinois)" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnoli...) F9: Naval History and Heritage Command, DANFS "Cairo I" - https://www.history.navy.mil/research... F10: Wikipedia, "Cairo Rail Bridge" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_R... F11: Wikipedia, "Thebes, Illinois" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thebes,... F12: Wikipedia, "Lynching of William 'Froggie' James" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynchin... F13: St. Louis Public Radio / St. Louis Beacon, "Over, under and through: the Ohio's assault... - https://www.stlpr.org/health-science-... F14: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, "Cairo, Illinois: A Symbol of Racial Polarization," Feb... - https://usccr.gov/files/historical/19... F15: Wikipedia, "Racial unrest in Cairo, Illinois" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_... F17: ProPublica, "Cairo floodway" - https://projects.propublica.org/graph... F18: KCUR / NPR, "'Nobody Cares About Cairo'," 17 Jun 2018 - https://www.kcur.org/2018-06-17/nobod... F19: WILL Illinois Public Media, "Cairo, Illinois loses its only grocery store, again" - https://will.illinois.edu/21stshow/st... F20: Capitol News Illinois, "Cairo port project gets additional funding, but construction... - https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/... F21: Wikipedia, "Fort Defiance (Illinois)" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_De...) F23: Illinois Times, "Rebirth of a rivertown" - https://www.illinoistimes.com/arts-cu... IMAGE AND MUSIC CREDITS Music: "Healing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music: "Backbay Lounge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music: "Disquiet" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... "Commercial Avenue from 7th Street, Cairo, IL - 54371281883" by w_lemay, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. "Confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers 02" by Farragutful, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. "Washington Avenue, Cairo, IL - 54371250419" by w_lemay, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. "Gem Theater building in Cairo Illinois 2012 02" by Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. "Historic Downtown Cairo - Archway May 2012" by Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. "Cairo, IL downtown buildings 3" by MuZemike, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. "Historic Downtown Cairo Arch, 8th Street, Cairo, IL - 54371044896" by w_lemay, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Archival photos: Library of Congress, National Archives and Wikimedia Commons (licenses listed above). Present-day photos are credited to their authors under Creative Commons licenses. Narration in this video uses a synthetic voice.