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Alexander County History
Alexander County was organized from Union County, IL, on March 14, 1819. The county honors Dr. William M. Alexander, who practiced medicine in the early ‘town’ of America and later became Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives.
Located at the southernmost tip of Illinois, this area is at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. The first settlers arrived in the early 1800s and established homesites along the floodplains.
Alexander County History
The County seat changed four times before settling on Cairo.
Alexander County History
Thebes was established in the early 1800s by two Sparhawk Brothers who traveled up the Mississippi River from New Orleans and were attracted to land along the river and the notable bluff. First known as Sparhawk Landing, it became the county seat of Alexander County from 1843 to 1859.
Alexander County History
Cairo and Southern Illinois are called “Little Egypt” primarily because early settlers from the northern part of the state traveled south to buy grain during severe winters and food shortages in the 1830s. Main theories include:
a) The Biblical Grain Trade: The successful harvests in the South reminded people of the biblical story in Genesis, where neighboring populations traveled to Egypt to buy grain during a famine.
b) The confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers resembles a river delta like the Nile, and local ancient Native American earthen mounds drew comparisons to the pyramids of Egypt. Following this nickname, several cities and towns include Egyptian names such as Cairo and Thebes. Olive Branch, a rural Alexander County community, also has Egyptian roots. In the tomb of Tutankhamun, ornaments and wreaths were found made from olive branches. In hieroglyphs, drawings, and statues of the Egyptians, there are numerous references to the olive tree, its branches, and its fruit.
Alexander County History
In Alexander County, with its rich river soils, farmers cultivate corn, soybeans, wheat, and cotton.
Alexander County History
In 1911, Sears and Roebuck had a 40-acre factory site where they built ‘cut and fitted’ houses. Over 60,000 homes, with over 350 home designs, were assembled and shipped by train to various cities and towns in the USA. Sears sold to their employees and sold crates for shipping B-17 and B-29 bombers for WW2.
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