Tired Of Promises, A Struggling Small Town Wants Problems Solved

March 28, 2017 By Jim Muir Leave a Comment

Cairo has lost more than half of its population in recent decades. Today, there are just under 3,000 people left. (WSIU photo)

Cairo has lost more than half of its population in recent decades. Today, there are just under 3,000 people left. (WSIU photo)

CAIRO, IL (Kirk Siegler – WISU Radio. Please click on the link for the full story, accompanying audio, and picture gallery. Here is an excerpt.) At the very southernmost tip of Illinois, the pancake flat cornfields give way to the rolling, forested hills of the Delta. Here, at the windy confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, it feels more southern than Midwest when you arrive at the old river port and factory town of Cairo, once made famous in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But Twain might not recognize Cairo today. “People come through Cairo and say ‘wow,’ ” says Phillip Matthews, a pastor and community activist. In the past three decades, his hometown lost half its population. Alexander County is not only the poorest county in Illinois; it’s also one of the fastest depopulating counties in the United States. In Cairo, weeds creep up through the cracks in the old brick streets. Whole city blocks are condemned. “I’ve watched for 40 years this city decline,” Matthews says, on a recent tour.

Filed Under: Featured, Slider

Speak Your Mind Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.