The Southern Medical Center at Cross and Cedar Streets in Cairo, Illinois. Originally constructed in the 1950s as St Mary’s Hospital. The hospital experienced financial hardship and announced plans to close in 1973. It was reopened in 1974 as the Pulaski-Alexander Development Corporation Community Hospital, later known as Southern Medical Center. Financial hardships continued due to Cairo’s economic decline. In 1984, the maternity and obstetrics ward was closed. The hospital went bankrupt in 1986 and was forced to close. The emergency room, subsidized by the state, remained operational until 1988. The EPA performed a cleanup of the site in 2007.


Photo by Kathy Weiser-Alexander.