Highland Park (Meridian, Mississippi)

The Highland Park Dentzel Carousel and Shelter Building is a carousel and building in Highland Park in Meridian, Mississippi. Manufactured about 1896 for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition by the Dentzel Carousel Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the carousel was sold and shipped to Meridian. Highland Park Dentzel Carousel has been in operation since 1909 and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987. It is the only remaining two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie in the world.Its closest contemporaries both are held in Indiana. The Children's Museum carousel, also called The Carousel of Wishes and Dreams in Indianapolis, was probably manufactured pre-1900. It is not a pure Dentzel product, though; much of the original carousel has been modified from its original design. In Logansport, the Spencer Park Dentzel Carousel has been partially restored. It is dated between 1900 and 1903, although it may predate 1900 as well.

The East Mississippi State Hospital (EMSH) is a mental health facility of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health located in Meridian, Mississippi. The facility is the third-largest employer in the Meridian area.A regional center, EMSH serves 31 counties, including Alcorn, Covington, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay, Forrest, George, Greene, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lamar, Lauderdale County, Leake, Lowndes, Marion, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Perry, Prentiss, Scott, Smith, Tippah, Tishomingo, Wayne, Webster, and Winston.

Meridian Baptist Seminary is a former educational institution for African-Americans in Meridian, Mississippi. The college was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 8, 1979, but delisted in 2008 after a fire destroyed the building in 2007.

Wechsler School is a historic school in Meridian, Mississippi erected in 1894. The school was the first brick public school building in Mississippi built with public funds for African-American children. It originally served primary through eighth grades but was later expanded to include high school as well. The school was named in honor of Rabbi Judah Wechsler of Congregation Beth Israel, who had led and inspired Meridian public to approve a bond issue to raise money for construction of the school. The school was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 and designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1993.

Merrehope, a 26-room Victorian mansion that currently serves as a historic house museum, was originally built in 1858 by Richard McLemore for his daughter Juriah Jackson. After changing ownership several times, with small alterations from each owner, the house was eventually bought by S.H. Floyd in 1904, who remodelled it into its present appearance. The building was one of few spared by General William Tecumseh Sherman on his raid of the city in the Battle of Meridian, and has served many functions throughout its history, including time as a residence, a shelter for Union officers, a Confederate General's headquarters, an apartment building, and a boarding house. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and as a Mississippi Landmark in 1995.

The Elson-Dudley House is a historic home located at 1101 29th Avenue, Meridian, Mississippi. Built in 1894 by Julius and Dora Neubauer Elson, some of Meridian's earliest settlers, the home is a Victorian Eastlake movement home with Queen Anne influence. The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 18, 1979, under the Meridian Multiple Property Submission. It is also part of Merrehope Historic District, which was listed on the National Register on September 19, 1988.The "pink house", as it is known locally, prominently features pedimented gables, a front veranda with a corner, conical-roofed turret, and a conical roofed tower. The front porch features turned balusters with center beads and the multi-panel entrance door is headed by a stained glass transom. The 5,000 sq ft (465 m2), 16-room mansion sits on a 29,620.8 sq ft (0.68 acres) lot and takes up half a city block. The Elson-Dudley house contains 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. The house holds 10 fireplaces, 5 chimneys, a grand staircase, and sports an asymmetrical facade.

The Carnegie Branch Library at 13th St and 28th Ave in Meridian, Mississippi is one of two former Carnegie libraries in the city, both funded by a grant from Andrew Carnegie in 1904. This library was built for blacks while the other was built for whites. The other library was built at 25th Ave and 7th St and now houses the Meridian Museum of Art. Both buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The black library was demolished in 2008.

Meridian is the eighth most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 35,052 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lauderdale County and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area. Along major highways, the city is 93 mi (150 km) east of Jackson; 154 mi (248 km) southwest of Birmingham, Alabama; 202 mi (325 km) northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana; and 231 mi (372 km) southeast of Memphis, Tennessee. Established in 1860, at the junction of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and Southern Railway of Mississippi, Meridian built an economy based on the railways and goods transported on them, and it became a strategic trading center. During the Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman burned much of the city to the ground in the Battle of Meridian (February 1864). Rebuilt after the war, the city entered a "Golden Age". It became the largest city in Mississippi between 1890 and 1930, and a leading center for manufacturing in the South, with 44 trains arriving and departing daily. Union Station, built in 1906, is now a multi-modal center, with access to Amtrak and Greyhound Buses averaging 242,360 passengers per year. Although the economy slowed with the decline of the railroad industry, the city has diversified, with healthcare, military, and manufacturing employing the most people in 2010. The population within the city limits, according to 2008 census estimates, is 38,232, but a population of 232,900 in a 45-mile (72 km) radius and 526,500 in a 65-mile (105 km) radius, of which 104,600 and 234,200 people respectively are in the labor force, feeds the economy of the city. The area is served by two military facilities, Naval Air Station Meridian and Key Field, which employ over 4,000 people. NAS Meridian is home to the Regional Counter-Drug Training Academy (RCTA) and the first local Department of Homeland Security in the state. Students in Training Air Wing ONE (Strike Flight Training) train in the T-45C Goshawk training jet. Key Field is named after brothers Fred and Al Key, who set a world endurance flight record in 1935. The field is now home to the 186th Air Refueling Wing of the Air National Guard and a support facility for the 185th Aviation Brigade of the Army National Guard. Rush Foundation Hospital is the largest non-military employer in the region, employing 2,610 people. Among the city's many arts organizations and historic buildings are the Riley Center, the Meridian Museum of Art, Meridian Little Theatre, and the Meridian Symphony Orchestra. Meridian was home to two Carnegie libraries, one for whites and one for African Americans. The Carnegie Branch Library, now demolished, was one of a number of Carnegie libraries built for blacks in the Southern United States during the segregation era. The Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience (the MAX) is located in downtown Meridian. Jimmie Rodgers, the "Father of Country Music", was born in Meridian. Highland Park houses a museum which displays memorabilia of his life and career, as well as railroad equipment from the steam-engine era. The park is also home to the Highland Park Dentzel Carousel, a National Historic Landmark. It is the world's only two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie in existence. Other notable natives include Miss America 1986 Susan Akin; James Chaney, an activist who was one of three civil rights workers murdered in 1964; singer Paul Davis; and Hartley Peavey, founder of Peavey Electronics headquartered in Meridian. The federal courthouse was the site of the 1966–1967 trial of suspects in the murder of Chaney and two other activists. For the first time, an all-white jury convicted a white official of a civil rights killing.

Haven Institute and Conservatory of Music, also known simply as Haven Institute, was an American private historically black Methodist college active from 1865 until the early-1930s, located in Meridian, Mississippi. It was founded in 1865 by Moses Austin, a pastor of the Saint Paul Methodist Episcopal Church of Meridian and a formerly enslaved person. Originally it was called Meridian Academy and it was located at 27th Avenue and 13th Street in Waynesboro, Georgia, however the name changed in 1914 and the campus moved in 1921.

The Masonic Temple at 1220 26th Avenue, Meridian, Mississippi was built in 1903. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It was also listed as a contributing property to the Merrehope Historic District in 1988. It has since been demolished.The temple was owned jointly by three black fraternal lodges and stood as a tribute to the business capacity and enterprise of the black community in the city. The structure was two stories tall with a recessed entrance supported by panelled Ionic pilasters that bore the keystone of Freemasonry and the insignia of the Shriners. The effort to build the temple was largely spearheaded by T.J. Wilson.

The Meridian Public School District is a public school district based in Meridian, Mississippi (USA). Its service area is the same as the city limits of Meridian.

Meridian Community College is a public community college in Meridian, Mississippi. Founded in 1937, it was originally named Meridian Junior College but changed its name in 1987.