Welcome to historic Cairo! See the historic signs. See the two remaining houses. Something is on the left. And it's fascinating that there's still a library! Books not included.


From the other (north) end, now you know even more of Cairo's fascinating story. There's... campaign placards. A park (not actually in the city, thankfully). Oh, and a museum. That's really it, unless you like old buildings in disrepair. What's that? You do? Well look who's in luck. Not sure how Cairo won the Governor's Home Town Award, as it looks like the motto involves excellence.


Starting to the north of the city, Sneed's/Veach's no longer has a sign here. I could equally believe they went out of business and scrapped the sign as I could that someone came up from Cairo and stole it. The Garden Inn Motel is just up Highway 37.


It's no surprise that the parking lot is empty. No one would want to stay near Cairo.


No one would want to stay in Cairo, either. Or work there, or eat there. But sure, it's a great business. That's why it's for sale.


Desolation breeds opportunity. If no one ever said that before, I'm claiming it. Whatever used to be to the right, it now points to the Missionary Baptist church. Whatever used to be to the left, it's now parking for the church. I'm sure they don't own that lot, but no one's going to kick them out.


Service was your business. Now you have none.


See, the gates are purely symbolic, but it shows that people still live in these houses. In all seriousness, there is one part of Cairo that's still inhabited by relatively well to-do residents, and that's the Park District in the northwest quadrant of the city. Washington Avenue runs right along it, but is not so hot. Most of the poorer populace is kept in violent, shabby projects to the southwest - somewhere I didn't dare traipse. The central aisle and entire east side of Cairo are basically empty.


Continuing south, relics of habitation past.


Churches present and past. The first three photos show the, and the last two are of the (6th Street) and (8th Street) respectively.


Legitimately old ads, since no one is going to come paint new ones. The first is for some kind of stone (northwest corner of 10th Street), and the second offers delicious pepsin gum (not the nicest of flavors) at 11th Street.


Huh? This seems more than a little inappropriate. From the front along Washington Avenue, it's actually a BLANK.


Okay, the two buildings of Cairo are quite interesting, but damned if I'm going to stop to check them out. The second one is the Cairo Custom House from when goods would come up the Mississippi River and disembark here for processing. The demise of steamships and river passage in favor of rail passage started to hurt Cairo, but it survived well into the 20th century before Interstate 57 finally killed it. The US Highway 60/62 bridges to the south of town already let east-west traffic avoid Cairo, but then I-57 drew all the north-south traffic away, leaving no one. This happened right at the time of civil/racial unrest in the 1960s, leaving a deeply segregated and ruined city.


Continuing past what's left of downtown, I think the second building used to be an auditorium. Or gymnasium. Let your imagination run wild, as whatever it was, it won't be again.


This motel is in slightly better shape than the Belvedere, but with equally many tenants (and owners).


South of Cairo is the convergence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, commemorated by an inscrutable work of modern art called Proceeding On, from when Lewis and Clark came here to start their famous expedition. Apparently the rivers used to meet at about 2nd Street in Cairo, but gradually eroded their way south. It's fitting that the only artwork in Cairo is in celebration of two men leaving. At least it leaves a cool shadow. There's also a work of modern playground that appears to resemble the front of a ship, something that never comes around anymore.

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