Cairo Info (Chicago, Springfield, Carbondale: 2015, crime, eviction)

[drro]

That sounds pretty bad. Since you seem to know the area, do you happen to know the story about 'Future City' just outside Cairo? Specifically why it was named 'Future city'. It looks just as challenged as Cairo.

And nearby lies Mound city which also seems to be struggling by looking at it on streetview. It seems fair to assume the whole region is not doing so well. It seems to have some history related to ship building.

[BLS2753]

Originally Posted by drro

Here is an article from the Chicago Tribune about Cairo. Not very positive though. It appears they still have a subway and a Ford dealership. I wonder how a car dealership is sustainable in a poor city with fewer than 3000 people.

Below Cairo lies 'Future city' which is basically empty streets with some boarded up homes left.

I wonder why they don't try to revive it by turning it into a tourist attraction, it is pretty impressive where the two rivers meet.

The Ford dealer advertises heavily on the local TV channels. Which cover the Cape Girardeau MO, Paducah KY, and Carbondale-Marion IL markets. Cairo's a hour's drive from these places, and people will go to Cairo to get a good deal.

As far as Subway goes, they have sprouted up all over this area, some in more remote places than Cairo population wise. A couple are in towns of <2,000 population (Karnak and Vienna).

[drro]

Originally Posted by BLS2753

The Ford dealer advertises heavily on the local TV channels. Which cover the Cape Girardeau MO, Paducah KY, and Carbondale-Marion IL markets. Cairo's a hour's drive from these places, and people will go to Cairo to get a good deal.

As far as Subway goes, they have sprouted up all over this area, some in more remote places than Cairo population wise. A couple are in towns of <2,000 population (Karnak and Vienna).

Since you seem to know the area, do you know what happened to 'Future City'? Its wikipedia page is just about empty. I wonder why someone gave it the name 'Future City' once since it is just empty streets with some boarded up homes now.

[prairiestate]

Wikipedia isn't exactly the world's greatest reference source.

Communities - Future City, IL

Encyclopedia Of Forlorn Places | Future City, Illinois

https://books.google.com/books?id=hX...county&f=false

[drro]

Thanks for the information. It seems in addition to being affected by Cairo's decline as a suburb, it suffered from several floods which even completely seem to have washed away some of the homes. Sad really. I wonder why the few residents still living there don't leave and how they make a living these days.

[Beachgoer44]

Originally Posted by drro

Thanks for the information. It seems in addition to being affected by Cairo's decline as a suburb, it suffered from several floods which even completely seem to have washed away some of the homes. Sad really. I wonder why the few residents still living there don't leave and how they make a living these days.

There is a lot of public housing in Cairo and some residents are caught in the welfare cycle. Some really cannot afford to leave, or even know how to. Given how the local politicians sold their public utility rights to a private company that has sky high rates, a lot of residents could not afford to live in their own home, even if they wanted to. On average an electric bill in Cairo is upwards of $600 monthly.

There are some very good well-rooted families in Cairo that try very hard to fight for their community, they just don't have good support from other bodies in Illinois Government.

It is very sad. It really used to be a beautiful town, with a great location on a river with highway and rail transportation available. It is an unfortunate travesty.

[BLS2753]

Originally Posted by drro

Since you seem to know the area, do you know what happened to 'Future City'? Its wikipedia page is just about empty. I wonder why someone gave it the name 'Future City' once since it is just empty streets with some boarded up homes now.

I suppose the name "Future City" evokes interest. But it never was even a municipality to my knowledge. The Wikipedia article is short, because there's not that much to say. I'm sure if one searched around enough, they could fine some old timers still alive that could weave some stories about Future City, but I don't know of any. There are many localities similar to Future City in this part of the state. Just off the top of my head, I could name a couple dozen of them within 50 miles of me. Places that people with big dreams, settled in the mid-19th century, that didn't turn into much of anything. Most of them were built along newly constructed railroads of the period. Some were fortunate enough to be along the original hard surfaced highways that were constructed in the 1920's and 30's. When both of these transportation modes became obsolete for intercity travel, there was no longer a reason of existence for these communities. The few people who remain, do so because they've never lived anywhere else, and/or they don't have the money to move or live anywhere else. Many of those old rundown homes, have been passed down through generations for years. And just because the homes are boarded up, it doesn't indicate people aren't living in them. They have enough income to keep the utilities turned on and pay the property taxes. They just don't have money for new windows.

[cansv]

For books on Cairo, another excellent book is "Cairo: A Community in Search of Itself" which was written in the early 1970s by a a SIU sociologist after the disturbances. Good background, history and analysis of community dynamics that probably still holds.

[drro]

I found a video on youtube about Cairo in another topic. It is basically a ghost town with lots of blight. Pretty impressive, although in Cairo's defense: many Americans cities have parts looking just like Cairo.

[Toronto416]

It's almost frightening to drive through a town like that and see abandoned homes, no people, nothing. Cairo reminds me a lot of Niagara Falls, NY.