Did you know that if the officials of Mobile and Ohio line had not approached Meridian’s first settler, Mr. Richard McLemore, today Meridian would be named Sowashee Junction?
That’s right, the Mobile and Ohio officials stopped at Mr. McLemore’s farm in early 1850 and broached a somewhat “touchy” subject, which was a question. Would he sell land to Mobile and Ohio in order for them to lay tracks and build a railroad line?
Now why was it touchy? Because the officials had already been turned down by the fine people of Enterprise, which was located on the Chickasawhay River. Even in 1854, Enterprise had several years under their belt having been organized in 1839 and named as Clarke County seat. The small town was a crossroad of its time with steam boats navigating their river. It is possible the train line desired to combine traveling efforts with river transportation, which sounds really good, but the citizens said a loud, “NO!” Furthermore, the people remarked, “We do not want those nasty railroad people in our town.”
Therefore, the railroad officials turned their gaze northward to the Sowashee Junction area and Mr. McLemore said, “Bring them on.”
He sold land to two speculators, Mr. John Ball, and Mr. Lewis Ragsdale and those two rivals built a town. Mr. Ball built a store and brought in a post office and Mr. Ragsdale, a hotel and saloon. They are today known as Meridian Founders.
According to a historic account, Sowashee is the Choctaw language meaning “raccoons are there.” But I have read several interpretations, one was “Mad Waters.” Now if you drive by the waterway, just off the I-20 Interstate and take a look, I dare say that Sowashee, as part of a small tributary of Okatibbee Creek, is probably a reference to raccoons rather than mad waters, just saying.
Nevertheless, the first tracks were laid in 1854, and Meridian began to grow.
You see, Mr. McLemore was a family man. He wanted families, children, churches and schools in Sowashee Junction and with a rail line, families did arrive. By the late 1800s Meridian railroad rivaled Birmingham.
In 1886, a local newspaper wrote, “Meridian is already next to Atlanta, the greatest railroad center in the South. Its increase in population is represented in the state, and with the single exception of Birmingham, Alabama, unprecedented in the South, or indeed in any part of the United States.”
Yes, with the rails, Meridian experienced the Golden Age.
With all of this written in my column today, please come to the Meridian Railroad Museum, 1805 Front Street, on Saturday, May 11, to celebrate and learn the most recent exciting news about rail travel, which includes Meridian.
What: National Train Day
When: Saturday, May 11
Time: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
$5 for Adults and Children free
There will be model train vendors onsite to sell and swap
Music by Grayson Culpepper and food to buy onsite.
Miniature train rides will be available for children.