21 Facts About Cairo Illinois

1.

Cairo Illinois had been growing as an important river port for steamboats, which traveled all the way south to New Orleans.

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2.

New city charter was written in 1857, and Cairo Illinois flourished as trade with Chicago to the north spurred development.

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3.

Since Cairo Illinois had no land available for base facilities, the navy yard repair shop machinery was afloat aboard wharf-boats, old steamers, tugs, flat-boats, and rafts.

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4.

Cairo Illinois became an important Union supply base and training center for the remainder of the war.

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5.

Cairo Illinois failed to regain this important trade after the war, as more railroads converged on Chicago and it developed at a rapid pace, attracting stockyards, meat processing, and heavy industries.

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6.

The ferry industry created numerous jobs in Cairo Illinois to handle large amounts of cargo and numerous passengers through the city.

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7.

Protection from seasonal flooding, Cairo Illinois is completely enclosed by a series of levees and flood walls, due to its low elevation between the rivers.

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8.

The U S District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois moved into the new court house in 1942, from the old U S Custom House and Post Office.

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9.

The mob returned James to Cairo Illinois and took him to the intersection of Commercial Avenue and Eighth Street.

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10.

Cairo Illinois's head was cut from his body and displayed on a pole that was stuck into the ground, and his body was burned.

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11.

Slow economic decline of Cairo Illinois can be traced to local and regional changes back to the early 20th century.

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12.

The effects of the second bridge were more severe, as rail traffic through Cairo Illinois was now reduced and railroad ferry operations were no longer necessary.

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13.

Between the 1930s and 1960s, the population in Cairo Illinois remained fairly steady; however, many jobs were gone as the shipping, railroad, and ferry industries left the city.

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14.

The black rioting that erupted in 1967 was not confined to Cairo Illinois; it was part of a larger pattern of more than 40 racially motivated riots that broke out in major cities in the United States in the summer of 1967.

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15.

In early 1969, a few activists of the civil rights struggle formed the Cairo Illinois United Front, a civil rights organization to bringing together the local NAACP, a cooperative association, and a couple of black street gangs.

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16.

The Cairo Illinois United Front was formed to organize the efforts of the black population in Cairo Illinois to counter the White Hats.

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17.

Racial violence in Cairo Illinois reached a peak during summer 1969 as the Cairo Illinois United Front began leading protests and demonstrations to end segregation and draw attention to its seven demands.

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18.

In summer 1969, the Cairo Illinois United Front began what became a decade-long boycott of white-owned businesses, which had generally not hired blacks as clerks or staff.

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19.

The interstate bypassed Cairo Illinois, crippling the remaining hospitality industry in the city.

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20.

Cairo Illinois's hospital closed in December 1986, due to high debt and a dwindling number of patients.

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21.

City of Cairo Illinois has a humid subtropical climate and has many characteristics of a city in the Upland South.

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