MERIDIAN

city, seat of Lauderdale county, eastern Mississippi, U.S., lying 95 mi (153 km) east of Jackson. Settlement began in 1854 at the junction site of the VicksburgMontgomery and the Mobile and Ohio railway lines 20 mi (32 km) from the Alabama border. The name was chosen by a settler who thought meridian meant junction. During the Civil War it was a Confederate military camp and served as the state capital for one month in 1863. General Sherman's Union troops destroyed the town the following February. Merrehope is a surviving stately 26-room antebellum mansion. The town recovered as a marketing centre for farm produce and timber and later acquired diversified manufactures, including textiles, wood and clay products, chemicals, and machinery. Meridian Junior College was opened in 1938. A naval air complex is 12 mi north. The Okatibbee Dam and Reservoir are 7 mi northwest. Jimmie Rodgers (18971933), the Singing Brakeman of Meridian, is honoured by a memorial and an annual (May) country and western music festival. Inc. town, 1860; city, 1865. Pop. (1990) 41,036.