Local city information for Meridian, MS

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 38,314 inhabitants, as reported in the 2007 United States Census estimates, are governed by a city council headed by Mayor John Robert Smith. The city is located east of Jackson, MS; west of Birmingham, AL; northeast of New Orleans, LA; and 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." Between 1890 and 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.


Originally 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. 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 small wooden station house on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad named Sowashee Station 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 entered a "Golden Age" around the turn of the 20th century. The railroads in the area provided for a means of transportation and an influx of industries, which caused a population boom. 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's population continued to climb until it peaked in the 1950s. 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 and Rita Schwerner 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, 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 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 60 years in prison. Meridian later honored Chaney by renaming a portion of 49th Ave after him and holding a memorial service annually.

To try to revamp 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 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 6-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.



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