Why This Illinois City Built a Gate to Seal Itself Off

Why This Illinois City Built a Gate to Seal Itself Off

At the southern tip of Illinois, where the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers converge, lies the city of Cairo, which once depended on the Big Subway Gate for flood defense. This massive iron barrier was designed to be lowered into position, effectively isolating the city during severe floods and transforming it into a fortified island. This episode delves into Cairo's evolution from a swampy misstep to a Civil War stronghold, the significance of its strategic location, and the role of the Big Subway Gate in efforts to manage the threat posed by two of North America's most treacherous rivers. It is a narrative of survival, decline, and a forgotten structure that continues to dominate the cityscape today. #CairoIllinois #AmericanHistory #HistoryDocumentary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Exploring the toxic ghost town of Love Canal

Exploring the toxic ghost town of Love Canal

Love Canal was once seen as a promising site for urban development but became one of the most notorious environmental disasters in U.S. history. In the 1940s, the Hooker Chemical Company used the Niag...

18 Apr 17min

Nevada's Pyramid Lake Problem Explained

Nevada's Pyramid Lake Problem Explained

Pyramid Lake, located in Nevada, is significant to the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe's ancestral land and faces environmental and cultural challenges. This lake, part of the Great Basin, relies on the Tru...

17 Apr 11min

Fci Butner: the country club of prisons

Fci Butner: the country club of prisons

Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Butner, located in North Carolina, is known as "America's prison for the rich and famous" due to its high-profile inmate roster and more accommodating conditions...

16 Apr 12min

The secrets of LA's underground tunnels revealed

The secrets of LA's underground tunnels revealed

Explore the forgotten tunnels beneath Los Angeles, which span over 11 miles and date back to the early 20th century. Initially serving as streetcar routes connecting commuters, some tunnels allowed fo...

15 Apr 18min

Why Canada's Abandoned City Was Taken Over by Bitcoin | Ocean Falls

Why Canada's Abandoned City Was Taken Over by Bitcoin | Ocean Falls

At its peak, Ocean Falls was a self-sufficient community in British Columbia, featuring a 600-bed hotel, an Olympic-caliber indoor pool, and a pulp mill that powered everything. However, when the mill...

14 Apr 13min

New York’s Lost Double-Decker Elevated Trains

New York’s Lost Double-Decker Elevated Trains

Before the subway tunneled beneath Manhattan, New York’s transit network featured an extraordinary system of double-decker elevated railways. This episode explores the forgotten story of stacked stati...

12 Apr 22min

Why 8-Mile Wall is Totally Forbidden

Why 8-Mile Wall is Totally Forbidden

Running across Detroit’s northern edge, 8 Mile has a complex history linked to surveys, treaties, and housing maps that transformed it into a notorious dividing line. In 1941, developers erected a six...

11 Apr 19min

Why Toronto’s Airport Was Built Around a Cemetery

Why Toronto’s Airport Was Built Around a Cemetery

For decades, Toronto’s Pearson International Airport housed a 19th-century Catholic cemetery, the resting place of early settlers from the now-vanished village of Elmbank. This cemetery, fenced off an...

10 Apr 19min

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