Meridian is a city in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, United States. The city is the county seat of Lauderdale County, the sixth largest city in Mississippi, and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city's 38,232 inhabitants, as reported in the 2008 United States Census estimates, are governed by a city council headed by Mayor Cheri M. Barry. The city is located 93 mi (150 km) east of Jackson, MS; 154 mi (248 km) west of Birmingham, AL; 202 mi (325 km) northeast of New Orleans, LA; and 231 mi (372 km) southeast of Memphis, TN.
Meridian has a rich past and deep roots in railroading history. Established in 1860 at the intersection of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and Southern Railway of Mississippi, the city relied heavily on the rails and goods transported on them. The city's historic Amtrak station now provides several other modes of transportation including the Meridian Transit System, Greyhound Buses, and Trailways, averaging 242,360 passengers per year.
During the American Civil War, much of the city was burned to the ground by General William Tecumseh Sherman in the Battle of Meridian. After the war, the city was rebuilt and entered a "Golden Age." From c 1890 to 1930, Meridian was the largest city in Mississippi and a leading center for manufacturing in the South. During this time, many of the sites and buildings in the city's nine registered historic districts were built, and most still survive today.
Since the 1950s, the city's population has been declining, but the decline has slowed somewhat after an annexation in 2006 and the influx of displaced coastal residents after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The reason for the population decline lies in the city's struggle to create a modern economy based on newer industries after the decline of the railroad industry. In 2003, Mainstreet Meridian intensified the economic revitalization by launching its "Vision 2003" program, attempting to restore downtown to its original prosperity.
History
Main article: History of Meridian, MississippiOriginally inhabited by the Choctaw Native Americans, the area which is now called Meridian was purchased by the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. After the treaty was ratified, European-American settlers officially began to move into the area after decades of squatting. Richard McLemore, the first settler of Meridian, began offering free land to newcomers in order to attract more settlers to the region and develop the area. Most of Richard McLemore's land was bought by Lewis A. Ragsdale, a lawyer from Alabama, in 1853. John T. Ball, a merchant from Kemper County, bought the remaining 80 acres (0.32 km 2 ). Ragsdale and Ball, now known as the founders of the city, began to compete with each other by laying out lots for new development on their respective land sections.
Ball erected a station house on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad named Sowashee by the owners of the railroad after the nearby Sowashee Creek. Fierce competition continued between Ball and Ragsdale; Ragsdale wanted to name the new settlement Ragsdale City , and Ball (along with most citizens) supported Meridian . When the Southern Railway of Mississippi intersected the Mobile and Ohio in Meridian, William Crosby Smedes, the president of the Southern Railway, sided with Ball and suggested to the owners of the Mobile and Ohio that Sowashee be renamed Meridian. The Mobile and Ohio accepted the name, and the town was officially incorporated as Meridian on February 10, 1860.
When the American Civil War began in 1861, Meridian was a small village. The town's strategic position at the railroad junction led to the construction of several military installations for the war. During the Battle of Meridian in 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman led troops into the city, destroying the railroads and burning much of the area to the ground. After the destruction of the city, Sherman is reported to have said, "Meridian, with its depots, store-houses, arsenal, hospitals, offices, hotels, and cantonments no longer exists." Despite the destruction, the railroad lines in the city were repaired only 26 working days after the battle.
The town experienced a boom in the aftermath of the Civil War and experienced its "Golden Age" from 1880 to 1910. The railroads in the area provided for a means of transportation and an influx of industries, which caused a population boom. As the population rose, commercial activity increased in the downtown area. Between 1890 and 1930 Meridian was the largest city in Mississippi and a leading center for manufacturing in the South. Industry profits helped finance the construction of most of the city's major buildings, including the Grand Opera House in 1890, the Wechsler School in 1894, two Carnegie libraries in 1913, and the Threefoot Building, Meridian's tallest skyscraper, in 1929.
The city continued to grow thanks to a commission government which brought in 90 new industries in 1913 and a booming automobile industry in the 1920s. Even through the stock market crash of 1929 and the following Great Depression, the city continued to attract new businesses. With escapism becoming popular in the culture during the depth of the Depression, the S. H. Kress & Co. building, built to "provide luxury to the common man," opened in downtown Meridian, as did the Temple Theater, which was used as a movie house.
After a brief slowdown of the economy at the end of the Depression, the country entered World War II, which renewed the importance of railroads. The rails were essential to transport gasoline and scrap metal to build military vehicles, so Meridian became the region's rail center once again. This renewed prosperity continued until the 1950s when the automobile and Interstate Highway System became more popular than passenger rails. The decline of the railroad industry caused significant job losses, resulting in a population decline as workers left for other areas. The population has since continued to decrease as the city has struggled to create a modern economy based on newer industries.
During the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, Meridian was a major center of organizing and activism. James Chaney and other local residents, along with Michael Schwerner ,his wife Rita and Andrew Goodman, volunteers from the North, worked on creating a community center to help prepare African Americans in the area to regain the power to vote.
Whites in the area didn't agree with the activism, and racial tension often translated to violence. In June 1964, Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Goodman went to Neshoba County, Mississippi to meet with members of a black church which had been bombed and burned. The three young men disappeared that night on their way back to Meridian, and their bodies were discovered, buried in an earthen dam, two months later. Seven Klansmen were convicted for the murders and three were acquitted in the Mississippi civil rights workers murders trial. In 2005, the case was reopened, and Edgar Ray Killen was convicted and sentenced to sixty years in prison. Meridian later honored Chaney by renaming a portion of 49th Avenue after him and holding a memorial service annually.
In an attempt to revitalize the economy, Meridian is undergoing a major gentrification effort. The project owes its beginning to the construction of a new Amtrak Station in 1997, which sparked a citywide effort to restore downtown to its lively prosperity of the early 20th century. After the Rosenbaum Building was renovated and reopened in 2001 and Weidmann's restaurant reopened in 2002, Mainstreet Meridian launched a program called "Vision 2003," prioritizing the continued revitalization of downtown. Mainstreet Meridian , along with The Riley Foundation, helped renovate the historic Grand Opera House in 2006 into the "Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and the Performing Arts." A six-story parking garage, built to provide parking for the future Riley Center, opened in 2005. Plans are now underway to renovate the Threefoot Building into an upscale hotel before the end of 2009.
Many more projects have been designed and proposed in the city, including bridge improvements in several locations, the construction of several museums in downtown, an African-American Business District on 5th Street, as well as several murals and public arts projects on various buildings' facades. Mainstreet Meridian also plans to increase residential housing and create more night time activities in downtown. More downtown property and business owner involvement is also encouraged.
Historic districts
Main article: Historic districts in Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian contains nine histo
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