History of Meridian, Mississippi

The history of Meridian, Mississippi begins in the early 19th century before European-American settlement. Originally settled by the Choctaw Indians, the land was given to the United States according to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. The city grew around the intersection of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and the Southern Railway of Mississippi and developed a largely rail-based economy. Although much of the city was burned down in the Battle of Meridian during the American Civil War, the city was rebuilt and entered a "Golden Age." Between about 1890 and 1930, the city was the largest in Mississippi and a leading center for manufacturing in the Southern United States.cite web |url=http://www.meridianms.org/history.htm |title=History of Meridian, MS |accessdate=2008-06-07 |publisher=Official website of Meridian, MeridianMS.org] After the decline of the railroading industry in the 1950s, the city's economy was devastated, resulting in a slow population decline. The population has continued to decline as the city has struggled to create a new, more modern economy based on newer industries.cite web |url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/multiples/64000416.pdf |title=Meridian Multiple Resource Area Nomination | work=National Register of Historic Places |accessdate=2008-06-07 |publisher=National Park Service |date=1979-12-18 |format=pdf] In the past 20 years or so, Meridian has attempted to revitalize the city's economy by attracting more business and industry to the city, most specifically the downtown area.cite web |url=http://www.meridianms.org/cd_mainstreet.htm |title=Main Street Meridian - Downtown Revitalization |accessdate=2008-06-07 |publisher=Official website of Meridian, meridianms.org]

Foundation

The area which is now Meridian was originally inhabited by the Choctaw Indians. Under pressure from the US government, the Choctaw agreed to removal from all lands east of the Mississippi River under the terms of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. Although many Choctaws moved to present-day Oklahoma, a significant number of others chose to stay in their homeland, citing Article XIV of the treaty. [cite web |url=http://www.choctaw.org/history/treaties.htm#1830 |title=Choctaw Treaties - Dancing Rabbit Creek |accessdate=2008-06-07 |publisher=Choctaw Museum of the Southern Indian |year=2004 |author=Bob Ferguson] Today, most Choctaws in the area live on the Indian Reservation in Choctaw, MS, convert|35|mi|abbr=on northwest of the city. After the treaty was ratified, European-American settlers rapidly began to move into the area. In 1831, only a year after the treaty was signed, a Virginian named Richard McLemore became the first settler of Meridian. McLemore owned most of the land in the area, and his plantation home was the only notable residence in the vicinity at the time.cite web |url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mslauder/meridian.html |title=History of Meridian, MS |accessdate=2008-06-07 |publisher=Don E. Wright |date=2004-01-15] To attract more settlers to the region and develop the area, McLemore began offering free land to newcomers.

In 1853, around the time that construction of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad began in the area, most of Richard McLemore's land was bought by Lewis A. Ragsdale, a lawyer from Alabama. John T. Ball, a merchant from Kemper County, bought the remaining 80 acres. Ragsdale and Ball, now known as the founders of the city, [cite web |url=http://www.meridianms.org/culture_attraction.htm |title=City of Meridian, MS - Attractions |accessdate=2008-06-08 |publisher=Official Site of Meridian, MeridianMS.org] began to compete with each other by laying out lots for new development on their respective land sections. Ball laid his streets parallel to the railroad, and Ragsdale chose to use true compass headings. This competition is evident today in the angles at which some streets meet in the city. [cite web |url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mslauder/meridian.html |title=History of Meridian, MS |accessdate=2008-06-07 |publisher=Don E. Wright |date=2004-01-15 |quote="L.A. Ragsdale, meanwhile, had brought out R.McLemore, and John T. Ball had purchased a tract of 80 acres, and both parties immediately began to lay off town lots." Ball purchased less land than Ragsdale. Fewer streets in the city run parallel to the railroads than run cardinal directions. From this, one can deduce that Ball was the founder who laid streets parallel to the railroad.]

Ball soon erected a small wooden station house and coerced the owners of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad to grant depot privileges to the site. The owners agreed, provided the station was constructed according to their specifications and was furnished at the community's expense. Mobile and Ohio named the station Sowashee Station after the nearby Sowashee Creek. For nearly two years, though, the site was treated as a mere flag station and denied ordinary station accommodations while the expense of station maintenance fell on Ball himself. Fierce competition continued between Ball and Ragsdale; Ragsdale wanted to name the new settlement Ragsdale City, and Ball (along with most citizens) supported Meridian.cite web |url=http://www.queenandcrescent.org/meridian_rr_history.html |title=Meridian Railroad History |accessdate=2008-06-08 |publisher=National Railway Historical Society, Queen & Crescent Chapter |author=Mick Nussbaum |date=2007-08-05]

Meanwhile, the Southern Railway of Mississippi was being constructed eastward out of Jackson, Mississippi. The railroad was planned to cross the Mobile and Ohio Railroad at Enterprise, Mississippi, but railroad administration could not obtain cooperation from Enterprise officials. Businessmen in Sowashee were more than eager for this economic opportunity and convinced Southern to cross there instead. After persuasion from Ball and other citizens of the city, William Crosby Smedes, the president of the Southern Railway, 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.

Civil War Era

stockade, as well as the headquarters for a number of state offices.

After the 1863 Vicksburg campaign, Union forces under General William Tecumseh Sherman turned eastward toward the city to begin what would later be called the Battle of Meridian. Because of several feints and other confusing maneuvers performed by Sherman, Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk, leader of Confederate troops in the city, was convinced Sherman was headed not for Meridian but for Mobile, Alabama, so he decided to fall back to Demopolis, Alabama, and prepare for a rear attack, leaving the city and its surrounding territory to the mercy of the enemy.cite web |url=http://americancivilwar.com/statepic/ms/ms012.html |title=American Civil War - Battle of Meridian |accessdate=2008-06-08 |publisher=AmericanCivilWar.com]

Sherman reached Meridian on February 14, 1864. He and his army waited in the city for Brigadier General William Sooy Smith, whom Sherman had ordered to lead a small cavalry from Tennessee to rendezvous in the city and continue into Alabama. He gave up after a week and returned to Vicksburg on February 20. While he and his army were waiting, Sherman ordered his troops "to wipe the appointed meeting place off the map" by 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."cite web |url=http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/index.php?id=2 |title=Mississippi History - Sherman's Meridian Campaign |accessdate=2008-06-07 |publisher=Mississippi Historical Society |year=2007 |month=April] Despite the destruction, the railroad lines in the city were repaired only 26 working days after the battle.

Meridian's "Golden Age"

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. The 1870 population of 2,709 almost tripled by 1885 to around 8,000 and nearly doubled again to 15,000 by 1898. By 1906 the population had almost doubled again to reach 28,000. 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, which opened in 1890. The opera house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was renovated in 2006 along with the neighboring Marks-Rothenberg Department Store into an upscale theater and conference center and renamed "The Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts."

In 1894 the Wechsler School was built as the first brick public school building in the state for African-American children, after the full community passed a bond issue to build the substantial school. The school served the city until 1978. Since then, the building has been used by a variety of community organizations. The school was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 15, 1991, and in 1994 ownership of the building was transferred to the Wechsler Community Art Association. The association has a multi-year plan to renovate the building for extended community use. [cite web |url=http://www.meridianms.org/artwechsler.htm |title=Meridian Council for the Arts |accessdate=2008-06-08 |publisher=Meridian Arts Council]

With funding from the national philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, two Carnegie libraries were built in 1913 — one for whites and one for African Americans in the segregated society. The library for whites was established in a building originally owned by members of the First Presbyterian Church of Meridian, who sold it to the city on September 25, 1911. [cite web |url=http://www.fpcmeridian.com/default2.aspx?pid=2 |title=Official Site of First Presbyterian Church of Meridian |accessdate=2008-06-08 |publisher=First Presbyterian Church of Meridian |year=2003] The city used the library until 1970, when it was converted into the Meridian Museum of Art. The library for African Americans was built at 13th Street and 28th Avenue on land donated by St. Paul Methodist Church. [cite news |title=I could write a book... |url=http://www.meridianstar.com/editorials/local_story_011000708.html |author=Anne McKee |publisher=The Meridian Star |location=Meridian, MS |date=2008-01-11 |accessdate=2008-06-08] cite news |url=http://www.wtok.com/news/headlines/19334204.html |title=Former Carnegie Library Demolished |accessdate=2008-06-09 |publisher=WTOK News |location=Meridian, MS |date=2008-05-28 |author=Tametria Conner] Despite the demolition of the former African-American library on May 28, 2008, both buildings are currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.cite web |url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/ |title=National Register Information System |date=2007-01-23 |work=National Register of Historic Places |publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=2008-06-08]

In 1929 the Threefoot Building, Meridian's tallest skyscraper, was built in the Art Deco architectural style. Today, the historic building, located adjacent to the Grand Opera House, is an important city landmark and is a contributing building within the Meridian Downtown Historic District, one of nine recognized historic districts in the city.

The city's population continued to climb until it peaked in the 1950s. The decline of the railroad industry caused significant job losses, whose combined economic impact resulted 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.

Civil Rights

see also|Mississippi civil rights workers murdersDuring the height of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, Meridian was a major center of organizing and activism. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) had a field office there, with members including James Chaney and other local residents, along with Michael and Rita Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, volunteers from the North. They worked on creating a community center, preparing people in the area for voter registration to regain the power to vote, and organizing a boycott of a variety store that had yet to hire its first black.cite web |url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price&bowers/Schwerner.htm |title=Biography of Michael Schwerner |publisher=University of Missouri-Kansas City |accessdate=2008-06-08]

The activism was not widely accepted among whites in the area; it caused great tension between not only white and black citizens of Meridian, but whites and blacks throughout the South. 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.

Two months later authorities discovered the bodies of the men buried in an earthen dam. The federal government indicted seventeen Klansmen, and tried ten for conspiracy under the Force Act of 1870. Seven men were convicted and three were acquitted. [cite web |url=http://themiddleoftheinternet.com/Chaney_Goodman_Schwerner.htm |title=Civil Rights Murders |accessdate=2008-06-08 |author=Susan Klopfer] In 2005 the case was reopened; Edgar Ray Killen, a Klansman, was convicted of three counts of manslaughter and sentenced to three terms of 20 years each. [cite news |url=http://www.courttv.com/trials/killen/062305_sentence_ctv.html |title=Ex-Klansman receives 60 years for three 1964 killings |accessdate=2008-06-08 |publisher=CourtTV.com |location=Philadelphia, MS |date=2005-06-23 |author=Harriet Ryan]

The murders of Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman — along with years of work from other activists — helped gain national support for Federal legislation to end segregation and protect civil and voting rights of all citizens. Meridian later honored Chaney by renaming a portion of 49th Ave after him. The city has also held a Mississippi Civil Rights Martyrs Memorial Service each year since 1964 [cite web |url=http://www.crmvet.org/anc/0706csg.htm |title=Veterans of The Civil Rights Movement |accessdate=2008-06-08 |date=2007-05-10] and built a memorial at his gravesite located in Okatibee Cemetery, by Okatibee Baptist Church. [cite web |url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6442194 |title=James E. Chaney |publisher=FindAGrave.com |date=2002-05-23 |accessdate=2008-06-08]

Gentrification

Currently Meridian is involved in a major gentrification effort to revitalize downtown. The project owes its beginning to the construction of a new Amtrak Station in 1997. The construction of the Amtrak station and linking of transportation modes sparked a citywide effort to restore downtown to its lively prosperity of the early 20th century.cite web |url=http://www.meridianms.org/transportunionstation.html |title=Union Station History |accessdate=2008-06-07 |publisher=Official website of Meridian, MeridianMS.org]

In 2001, the Rosenbaum Building was renovated and reopened containing condominiums on the upper floors and retail stores on the street level. Weidmann's restaurant, built around 1870, was sold to a group of local investors and reopened in fall 2002 after extensive renovations.cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5277/is_200407/ai_n24281501 |title=Strategic center of the South, Meridian poised for takeoff |author=Lynne Jeter |publisher=BNET Business Network |work=The Mississippi Business Journal |location=Meridian, MS |date=2004-07-19 |accessdate=2008-06-08]

In 2003, "Mainstreet Meridian" launched a program called "Vision 2003," prioritizing the continued gentrification 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 underway to renovate the Threefoot Building into an upscale hotel before the end of 2009. The demolition phase is set to begin around June 2008, and construction should begin at the end of the same year. The renovation is estimated to take 15 to 18 months to complete if all financing goes as planned. [cite news |url=http://www.meridianstar.com/homepage/local_story_102005346.html |title=Project Moves Forward |author=Jennifer Jacob |date=2008-04-11 |publisher=The Meridian Star |location=Meridian, MS |accessdate=2008-06-08]

Other designed and proposed projects in the city include bridge improvements in several locations throughout the city, including the 22nd Avenue bridge, the "gateway to downtown." The city has also proposed building several museums in downtown and an African-American Business District on 5th Street, as well as several murals and public arts projects on various buildings' facades.cite web |url=http://www.meridianms.org/Annual_report07.pdf |title=Meridian, MS Annual Report 2007 |format=pdf |accessdate=2008-06-08 |publisher=Official website of Meridian, MeridianMS.org] "Mainstreet Meridian" also plans to increase residential housing and create more night time activities in the city. More downtown property and business owner involvement is also encouraged.

References

External Links

* [http://www.meridianms.org Official Website of Meridian, Mississippi]