Meridian

Meridian, Mississippi - The Queen City

By Jimmy Gower (submitted by Norma Walters)

Meridian was incorporated Feb. 10, 1860, just a year before the war between the states.

On Valentine's Day, April 14, 1864, she had an uninvited, despicable intruder, William T. Sherman - a "Yankee General". After six days of savage fires and destruction, he and his party of 23,500 plus troops departed back to Vicksburg. A he left he declared "Meridian is no more." After 26 working days the railroads were back in business. The citizens picked themselves up and rebuilt to become the largest city in Mississippi by 1907, surpassing Vicksburg.

MERIDIAN - as in most cities had its sub-divisions, bergs, neighborhoods and inter-communities. In addition to residential areas they are remembered most for the following:

SOUTH SIDE - railroads, cotton mills, short factory, stockyards, packing house, lumber yards, lumber mills, warehouses, and fairgrounds.

EAST SIDE - Railroads. cotton mills, lumber mills, and yards, warehouses, and hospitals.

WEST SIDE - Railroads, rooming houses, drive-in restaurants, lumber yards, fertilizer factory, stock yards, and various other small industries.

TUXEDO - Railroads, cotton mills, lumber mills, tourist courts, hosiery mills, packing house, and other small industries.

OAKLAND HEIGHTS - Clay Pipe Co., drive-in restaurants, Key Field, steel fabricators, box manufacturers, charity hospital, stock yard, packing house and yes - the old ammo dump.

FEWEL SURVEY - Railroads, metal foundry, and chain factory.

BONITA - Brickyard, water works, ponds, and air strip.

North Part of Town - High school, Beeson College, country club, dairy farm, Poplar Springs and the May Pole at Marion Park.

Downtown - City Hall, county seat, hotels, restaurants, and most any type of business, merchant, and manufacturing company imaginable.

This brings us to "Complete". It is last on the list vut first in all of our hearts. We had (and still have) some of the greatest people that ever graced God's green earth, a dairy farm, Highland Park, and an insane asylum. As an old resident of the later - "Bruno from Bay Springs" would say "three out of four ain't bad odds."