Why NOBODY Wants To Visit Cairo, Illinois Anymore

Cairo, Illinois was supposed to become the greatest city in America, sitting right where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet, but racial violence, economic collapse, and the very bridges it fought to build ended up killing it instead. At its peak in 1920, over 15,000 people called it home, and today fewer than 1,600 remain in a town surrounded by seven miles of concrete flood walls holding back the same rivers that gave it life. This is the story of how geography, greed, and a century of broken promises turned a would-be rival to Chicago into one of the most hauntingly empty places in the United States. Sources: ProPublica — "There Was a Plan to Save This City From Flooding" https://www.propublica.org/article/cairo-t... Legends of America — "Cairo, Illinois – Death by Racism" https://www.legendsofamerica.com/il-cairo/ U.S. Census Bureau population data for Cairo, IL (via Neilsberg) https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/cairo-i...