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:
“The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Man watches his history on the screen with apathy and an occasional passing flicker of horror or indignation.”
—Conor Cruise O’Brien (b. 1917)