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.
