Meridian, Mississippi - Queen City

Always on the lookout for a cool place to stop on the road to somewhere else, we found ourselves in Meridian, Mississippi.

Meridian was founded back in 1860 at the junction of two railroads: The Mobile and Ohio Railroad and The Southern Railway of Mississippi. While Richard McLemore was the first settler, there are two men that are considered founding fathers: Lewis Ragsdale and John T. Ball. The two men had different visions for the city starting with the name. Ragsdale wanted Sowashee (named for a nearby creek) and Ball wanted Meridian (meaning junction). Every day, the name at the train station would changed. Finally, the railway workers had enough and picked Meridian.

During the Civil War, the city was used as a Confederate Headquarters. Then in 1864, General Sherman came in and destroyed the town during the Battle of Meridian. After Sherman left, it didn't take long for the townspeople to get the railroad running again.

This is the Meridian Train Depot, aka Union Station. It's an active station as the Amtrak still runs through here.

The Meridian Railroad Museum is next to Union Station. It's free to go in. They have some cool exhibits inside.

Across the street was the Union Hotel. It was built in 1908. Rail travelers could get a room here for $2 per night, even up through the 1960s! The hotel closed in the 1970s but was converted to apartments. The first floor houses the Visitor's Bureau. I love that they didn't tear this place down.

Check out the ads on the side of the building! I love these!

Not too far away was the Lamar Hotel built in 1928 by grocers Sam and Joe Meyer. It was eleven stories high (a skyscraper in those days!) and considered to be very swanky. Only the wealthiest people stayed there. Unfortunately, the Great Depression kept it from reaching it's full potential. The hotel closed in the 1950s. It's now an annex to the courthouse across the street.

Another famous hotel was the E.F. Young, Jr. Hotel. Opened in 1946, it catered to African-American travelers. It was the only hotel within a 90 mile radius that would accept minorities. In it's heyday, it was listed in the Green Book and had two barbershops and a beauty salon as well as the hotel. The hotel closed in 1978 and the building was converted to office space.

This is the lot the hotel was on. Even though it was on the National Register of Historic Places, it was demolished in 2023 due to safety concerns. It's a shame that it couldn't be turned into a museum. Surely I'm not the only one interested in history like this.

This is the hotel that we stayed at, The Threefoot Hotel. Built in 1929 by the Threefoot family, it was an office building and, at one time, the tallest building in Mississippi. Unfortunately, the Great Depression hit the family and they went bankrupt. The building changed ownership and had tenants but by the 1990s it was vacant and abandoned. It was eventually renovated and converted to a hotel. Now it's part of the Marriott chain and quite nice. It has a rooftop bar that offers amazing views of the city.

This was a photo in our hotel room. It's the Lauderdale County Courthouse. The original was built in 1890 but was destroyed by fire in 1903. This courthouse was built in 1904.

In 1939, the courthouse was renovated and expanded. A jail was added on the top floor. The jail isn't used anymore and there's some debate on whether to remove it or preserve it. Personally, I say keep it and make it a museum!

This is the Meridian City Hall. It's sits on the edge of downtown. Behind it is the African-American business section of town from the 1960s as well as some of the museums that the city offers. When we were there, the Christmas decorations were being setup. The building was built in 1915 replacing the earlier building from 1885.

This is the Dement Printing Company. The building was erected in 1909 but the family has been in the printing business since 1875. Five generations of Dements worked at this business. In 2016, they sold it. The new owners are still printing things today.

This is the Temple Theater built in the early 1920s by the Hamas Shriners to replace their old meeting place. When it opened in 1927, it was quite the showplace. They had silent movies here along with live performances. The Shriners leased the building to the Saenger Theater company who managed it for a while. In 2009, it was sold to Roger Smith, a Dallas businessman who restored the theater. Today they have all kinds of events there, including concerts, live shows, etc. It's a cool building and I would have loved to see the inside.

On our tour of Meridian, we stopped at Merrehope. Remember Richard McLemore? He's the guy that owned all the land back when Meridian was just starting. He sold to the two "founding fathers". 

Before he did that, he deeded some land to his daughter for a wedding gift. She and her husband built a cottage. This back half of the house was part of the original cottage. In 1863, the house was used as a Confederate HQ. In 1864, General Sherman came to Meridian and used this house as his HQ as he burned the rest of the city.

This is the bedroom of the original cottage. It's tucked away behind the big dining room that was added on when the home changed hands in 1868 and was purchased by cotton broker John Gary. He added on the rest of the first floor, for the most part. In 1903, the next owner added the second floor, the columns and the balcony.

In 1915, it became a boarding house and was divided into 8 apartments. This is a photo of the back of the house on the second floor. You can't go out there but you can see the apartment doors. 

I love touring these old houses but I was disappointed this time. It was most likely bad timing. They were decorating for Christmas so we were charged the "Christmas premium" but we didn't get a tour. We just got to walk around the house with no context. While the house is very cool, it would have been that much more so if we'd known what we were looking at.

On our way out of town, we stopped at the Rose Hill Cemetery, which is one of the oldest in Meridian. The oldest marker here is from 1853. They do cemetery tours here...not the creepy ones but historical ones that I think would have been interesting.

This is the memorial for Lewis Ragsdale. Remember him? He's one of the founding fathers of Meridian. He's the one that wanted the name Sowashee. 

This grave is interesting. It's the grave of the Gypsy Queen, Kelly Mitchell. She was an American woman who was married to Emil Mitchell. He was King of the Gypsy nation, which he inherited from his father. She died in childbirth of her 15th kid! She died in Alabama and her body was put on ice for six weeks so that Emil could get the word out. They settled on Meridian for her burial place. The rest of her family is here as well. People leave things on her grave in hopes that good fortune will come their way. Kelly died in 1915 and it is reported that 20,000 people came to her funeral. 

This is the MSU Riley Center once known as the Meridian Grand Opera House. It was built in 1890 by the Marx-Rothenberg brothers next to their department store of the same name. It was originally going to be a hotel but just after construction started, it was stopped and the opera house was built in its place. For $1.50, you could get a good seat to a famous opera or live show. In 1923, it was leased to the Saenger Theater company. Remember them? They leased the Temple Theater too. When they leased the bigger theater, they wanted to change this place to an office building but the lease was very specific that it remain a theater. Saenger didn't pay the lease and the brothers sued. The brothers eventually won but by then the Great Depression hit and Saenger went bankrupt. In 2000, the Riley foundation gave $10M for renovation under the stipulation that Mississippi State University run it.

The S.H. Kress & Company was a five and dime store back in the early part of the 20th century. This one was built in 1934 and then enlarged in 1958. These stores were so cool. They had some of everything!

The store in Meridian closed in 1974. The building was used as an office and other things but in 2015, it became part of Mississippi State University. I LOVE that the city kept all these historic buildings. Kudos to them for not tearing them down and instead repurposing them.

Earlier I mentioned the E. F. Young Jr. Hotel that was in the African American Business section of town. That area is a bit run down. One of the buildings had this old Dr. Pepper sign on it. That's one area that I wish I could have found more information on. There are several buildings and lots there that are empty that I'm sure have amazing or interesting stories to tell.

This building for example is the Holbrook Benevolent Association building. This building was erected in 1924 but the association was created in 1875 for the support and mutual aid of free and enslaved African Americans. This was a cultural and social hub for the African American community in Meridian. It's located across the street from where the E. F. Young Jr Hotel was located. I read that in 2024, there was talk of restoration of the building but as we're at the end of 2025, I'm guessing the money isn't there?

In 1904, two grants were given to the city of Meridian by the Carnegie foundation. One was for $30,000 for this main library which is now the Meridian Museum of Art. We didn't have time to go in though if I'd realized it was a Carnegie Library, I'd have made it a priority. The second grant was for $8,000 for a library for Black patrons. That library was demolished in 2008.

There are quite a few museums besides the Meridian Museum of Art. There's a children's museum, the Railroad Museum, The Jimmie Rodgers Museum, The Soule Steam Museum, and, of course, the visit to Merrehope.

I really enjoyed my time in Meridian and would highly recommend a visit if you're into history. I fully expected the whole of downtown to be run down and full of vagrants. It was not. It wasn't exactly bustling but it was busy and well cared for. 

We met a guy walking around with a coffee who was super friendly and welcomed us to the city. It's the 8th largest city in Mississippi with 35,000 people who live here. Because of the railroads, cotton and timber were big markets here. Today, one of the biggest employers of the city is the Naval Air Station that's about 20 miles north. The second biggest employers are the two hospitals that are located in Meridian.

Off of I-20, you have all your standard hotel chains: Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn, etc. But if you're going there, you should stay at the Threefoot. It's right downtown and doesn't cost much more. Also off of I-20, you have your standard restaurant chains: Olive Garden, McDonalds, Red Lobster, Chick-Fil-A and for a grocery store, there's a WalMart.

If you're in the area looking for something interesting, check out Meridian!