Geography of Meridian
Meridian, Mississippi, the seat of Lauderdale County. It is 78 miles (126 km) east of Jackson and 17 miles (27 km) west of the Alabama border. Meridian is a trade and transportation center for a ranching, lumbering, and farming area. The leading industries make clothing, paper and wood products, and construction materials. A naval auxiliary air station and a state psychiatric hospital are here. Meridian has the council-manager form of government.
The site was settled in 1831 and became a railway junction; the men who named it thought meridianmeant “junction.” During the Civil War, Meridian was the state capital for one month. It was a Confederate division headquarters, and was destroyed by General Sherman's forces in 1864.
Population: 39,968.