History
Cairo was founded by the Cairo City & Canal Company in 1837, and incorporated as a city in 1858. For fifteen years, the town grew slowly, but the sale of lots (commencing in 1853) and the completion of the Illinois Central Railroad attracted settlers and merchants. By 1860, the population exceeded 2,000.
During the American Civil War, Cairo was a strategically important supply base and training center for the Union army. For several months, both General Grant and Admiral Foote had headquarters in the town.
Read more about this topic: Cairo, Illinois
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“History takes time.... History makes memory.”
—Gertrude Stein (18741946)
“What you dont understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.”
—Boris Pasternak (18901960)
“We know only a single science, the science of history. One can look at history from two sides and divide it into the history of nature and the history of men. However, the two sides are not to be divided off; as long as men exist the history of nature and the history of men are mutually conditioned.”
—Karl Marx (18181883)