Went there as it was a potential job site about 15 years ago. Kind of amazing to see. There are plenty of rural Iowa towns drying up, but Cairo is like nothing I’ve ever seen. I think it was a victim of railroads bypassing it, as well as some racial violence.
Brutal history and truly the saddest, most depressing place I’ve ever been.
Parts are pretty much empty. It’s maybe about 40% of its peak population. As a comp on a larger scale, St Louis proper is about 35% of its peak population.
The rural decay in the eastern and southern reaches of the Midwest blows what you see in Iowa out of the water. I’ve traveled back roads in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma in the last decade and they are all so much more run down than Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and the Dakotas.
For various reasons I've spent a lot of time driving through all parts of Iowa. Yes, pretty much all of the smaller rural towns are in bad shape and going downhill. But you are correct - areas of the rust belt and the south have some absolutely apocalyptic looking towns.
There must be some major differences across Iowa too. Outside of my time at ISU and Drake, I’ve always lived in the farthest north tier of counties. The class sizes are essentially the same as they were when I was a kid. Most towns of more than 1,000 people has actually (barely) grown or gone sideways (which is a W if you’re grading on a curve). The smaller towns have lost population, but the people who stay maintain the properties.
