Grant Ulysses Grant mentioned Illinois Tourist Guide 1930

JAGwinn

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Bloomington, IL Corvette Gold
TOURISTS GUIDE 9

Cairo is at the junction of United States Highway-
No. 51 (Illinois No. 2) and United States Highway No.
60. Illinois Highways No. 150 and No. 147 also converge
here. Cairo is 410 miles from Chicago, 164 miles from
St. Louis and 220 miles from Springfield by highway.

HISTORICAL HALLIDAY HOTEL

In Civil War days General Grant and a large number
of distinguished army and navy officers, politicians
and distinguished writers were guests here. Grant spent
most of his social hours here. Grant's bedroom remains
intact — Room 215. The famous old bar in the former
barroom is still standing. Under the pavement at the
front of the building are sixteen dreary and dismal
dungeon-like cells in which General Grant kept prison-

10 ILLINOIS

. ers. The hotel is nearly 75 years old. It is alive with
the memories of the past. Historic Halliday Hotel where General Grant and other Illustrious
personafres spent many of the hectic Civil War days. Grant's bedroom
is still intact. The dungeons below the pavement in front of the hotel
are just as they were many years ago.

More: [Radio broadcast by KRCU, public radio]-

KRCU_AY-Halliday_2008.jpg
"The most famous structure in the history of Cairo was consumed by flames on the morning of Feb. 22, 1943.
It seems like Almost Yesterday that the historic Halliday Hotel in Cairo, Ill., was destroyed by fire. The most famous structure in the history of Cairo was consumed by flames on the morning of Feb. 22, 1943. Within four hours, the majestic five-story, 155-room hotel was reduced to rubble.

The estimate of damage was inititally placed at $80,000, but quickly escalated as the cost of replacement was considered.

The fire started around 7 a.m. in the basement of the building, beneath the coffee shop and main lobby. Flames rose swiftly up the hotel's elevator shaft adjacent to the main entrance, thus blocking the escape route through the main entrance along Second and Ohio Streets.

Within an hour, the fire escalated to great intensity. Hundreds of onlookers stood and watched the smoke and flames from the safety of Commercial, Fourth and Ohio Streets as well as along the Ohio River levee.

More than 100 guests from across the nation had spent the night at the Halliday, most still sleeping when the first cries of "Fire!" were shouted through thte hallways. Police, firemen, coast guardsmen and volunteers raced through the hallways knocking on doors and shouting "Fire!"

Remarkably, the hotel guests escaped without loss of life. Rescue workers and volunteers reportedly were able to check every room to move people to safety. It was a remarkable and courageous evacuation.

The 85-year-old hotel, originally known at the St. Charles, had been constructed in 1858 and 1859 and used by General Ulysses S. Grant as Union headquarters during the Civil War. The bar on the first floor of the hotel was thereafter called "General Grant's Bar."

With the destruction of the Halliday Hotel, a major feature of the distinctive landscape of Cairo, Ill., was gone. It seems like Almost Yesterday."
 
Unfortunately most everything in Cairo is either torn down or burned. They had a serial arsonist who operated there for a long time before he was caught. Many old and historic homes have been destroyed over the years. It is a tragic story of loss.
 
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