ILLINOIS: Sad Towns That Are Slowly Dying

Comments · 1.8K

• CA

  @carolcarroll7157 · 2 years ago

  My father was born in Mound city in 1929. There were 15 children . The woodworking in the theater in Cairo was done by my grandfather, Edward Everett Boren

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• AL

  @alanwilhite7034 · 3 years ago

  When I see the homes abandoned and neglected, I see, in my minds eye my cousins playing on green grass and running through sprinklers, playing ball, and eating watermelon.  So many good days with family, now all gone into the mist of time

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• TH

  @theblacksheep5226 · 3 years ago

  I bought my house in Cairo for $2100. Beautiful, historic home, needs some work, not staying there at the moment. There is a gas station at the Missouri end of the Cairo bridge. Gas tax significantly lower in MO so the gas stations in IL can't compete. Cairo's crime has dropped quite a bit since the two large projects were demolished. The building you mentioned as being the old grocery store was in fact a hardware store/home center. The customs house was built in the 1800s. There are  two Dollar Generals in town and one motel. Yes, Mounds probably is worse than Cairo. Def more Detroit like. Enjoyed your video.

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• JA

  @jameswinburn6843 · 8 months ago (edited)

  My family migrated to Illinois from a little cotton farm in Northern Mississippi in the fities. Cairo, Illinois was a thriving town then. Cargo from the Gulf could come all the way to Cairo and declare their contents at the Cairo Custom House. The town was filled with grand homes then. There were so many beautiful Victorian homes, painted ladies, they were called. Many of them had towers and gingerbread. That all changed when the river trade changed. Cairo's importance crashed and business wilted. A thriving town with industry and thriving retail became a relic. Today those grand old homes are abandoned wrecks. There are two restaurants, four liquer stores, one dollar store and a dozen or so grand churches. There are NO service stations in the whole town. The video doesn't do it justice. It's one of the saddest things I've ever seen. I guess the sadness comes from remembering it as it was in the fifties, a genteel southern town with character. I don't see a future for it. BTW, the Ford dealer is closed now. I could never understand how it stayed in business in a ghost town.

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• EP

  @epiphany2112 · 3 years ago

  I have always heard when churches start to close down in a town it means most of the town is pretty much nearing the end of it's time.

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• SI

  @sipe34 · 3 years ago

  So wierd that you never see any people walking around outside in these towns. I have experienced that myself in my travels.

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• RU

  @rural.revivals · 3 years ago

  I’ve spent my whole life in Illinois, been everywhere from rockford down to Cairo and there’s beauty everywhere. It’s not one everyone can see but the ones who can appreciate it are the best.

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• AH

  @Ahmar_Wolf · 2 years ago

  It's not just happening in Illinois, it's happening everywhere. Remember that series where they went in and fixed up a lot of small town? I read they wanted to do a follow up, except most of the towns featured in the series are now abandoned.

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• TO

  @tomhanna2714 · 3 years ago

  You missed what might have been the most tragically misnamed place of all, just right outside the big Subway gate at Cairo…Future City! I never understood why they established it on the wrong side of the levee to begin with, never mind such a name. I live in the Ozarks, relatives in suburban Atlanta, so I’ve driven through Cairo many times coming and going both. Always a highlight, but a bit sad and grim as well. For a cool view, drive down <br>into Fort Defiance all the way to the end of the road at the very tip of Illinois and then walk the rest of the way through the rocks (careful, watch the ankles!) to the water’s edge and just stand or sit there and watch the river traffic as it goes by, day and night both. Then look over to the trees and that building (gauge house perhaps?) and imagine the water as high as that, easily thirty or even forty feet over your head and you start to get an idea of just how much water we’re talking about when the rivers are in full flood.

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• QU

  @QueenB572 · 3 years ago

  In reference to the incomes, I live in AZ and survive on $21k a year and that is after our raise in SS this year. You’d be surprised what you can do when you have to. I never planned this but health, death and age have all been a factor! Carry on, people! Love your videos! Helps me<br>To cope in this clown 🤡 world!

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• JU

  @judylord4875 · 3 years ago

  Crossed that bridge many times driving an 18 wheeler. Used to go to Cairo and pick up loads of lumber in a container to be shipped overseas. Cairo is a sad town.

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• JU

  @JustMeNoOther · 3 years ago

  Ghost towns where even ghosts do not live there. So sad... really sad.

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