Established | 1970 |
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Location | 628 25th Avenue Meridian, Mississippi |
Coordinates | 32°21′50.1″N88°42′11.2″W / 32.363917°N 88.703111°W |
Type | Art museum |
Director | Kate Cherry [1] |
Website | www |
Meridian Museum of Art | |
Location | Meridian, Mississippi |
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Built | February 1884 |
Architectural style | Italianate |
MPS | Meridian MRA |
NRHP reference No. | 79003397 [2] |
USMS No. | 075-MER-0151-NR-ML |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | December 18, 1979 |
Designated USMS | January 8, 1985 [3] |
Meridian Museum of Art is an art museum located at 628 25th Avenue, Meridian, Mississippi. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 [2] and declared a Mississippi Landmark in 1985. [3] The building originally served as the home of the First Presbyterian Church of Meridian until the city of Meridian bought the building in 1911 and turned it into a Carnegie Library in 1913. [4] The city originally constructed two Carnegie libraries — one for whites and one for African-Americans; the building currently housing the Meridian Museum of Art served as the white library. In 1970, after the libraries integrated and moved to a new location, the vacant building at 628 25th Avenue was transformed into the Meridian Museum of Art and still operates today. [5]
The lot on which the building resides was originally owned by Richard McLemore, the first settler in the Meridian area in 1831. When construction of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad began in the area, most of McLemore's land was bought by Lewis A. Ragsdale, including the lot at 25th Ave and 7th St on which the museum now stands. [6] In 1867 Ragsdale donated the lot to members of the First Presbyterian Church of Meridian, and they built a small wooden structure in which to hold worship services. A fire on January 24, 1883, burned the building to the ground, but it was later rebuilt in the same location with brick by members of the church. On September 25, 1911, the church sold the building to the city of Meridian. [4]
Israel Marks, who helped operate the Marks-Rothenberg Department Store next door to the Grand Opera House, was an acquaintance of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1904, after being asked by citizens of Meridian, Marks approached Carnegie about funding for a library in the city. Marks convinced Carnegie to issue a $38,000 grant to the city's government to build two Carnegie libraries — one for whites and one for African-Americans. [7] The city used the money both to renovate the vacant building (formerly owned by First Presbyterian Church of Meridian) at 25th Ave and 7th St and transform it into a library, and to build another library for African-Americans at 13th St and 28th Ave on land donated by a local Methodist church. [5] The two libraries served the city until 1967, when the institutions became integrated, combined their collections, and moved all materials to the new Meridian Public Library at 2517 7th St. [7] The 13th street library is also listed on the National Register as Carnegie Branch Library.
One of the first art organizations in the city, The Meridian Art League, was established in February 1933. From 1933 to 1949, art exhibitions were held in Lamar Hotel in downtown Meridian. In 1949, The Meridian Art League changed its name to Meridian Art Association and began to hold exhibitions on the second floor of the Marks-Rothenberg Department Store. For the next 20 years, exhibits were held at various locations throughout the city, including the Meridian Public Library, the Strand Theatre, Alex Loeb Department Store, First National Bank, Merchants and Farmers Bank, Sears, the Broadmoor Shopping Center, and Weidmann's Restaurant. [7]
After the Carnegie library at 25th Ave and 7th street was closed and the operations moved to the new public library, the Meridian Art Association began talks with the city of transforming the vacant building into an art museum. This would give the association a permanent home for its exhibits. In December 1968, the Meridian Art Association raised $10,000 to start the museum; after many hours of effort, the grand opening was scheduled for January 1970. A fire on December 22, 1969, postponed the opening because some of the building had to be reconstructed. [7]
The building opened as the Meridian Museum of Art in late 1970 and has since served as the region's premiere public museum. It features rotating exhibitions as well as many educational programs for both students and adults. The museum offers more free programming than any other museum in the state and holds over 30 exhibitions annually, ranging from traditional decorative arts to ethnographic and tribal materials, photography, crafts, and many other works of art. The collection also includes 18th and 19th century portraits, 20th century photography, and several sculptures. [8]
Along with the exhibits, the museum offers special classes and programs to encourage participation by Meridian Community College, as well as city and county schools in Lauderdale County and the entire two-state area. [8]
The museum primarily serves audiences from Meridian and Lauderdale County and the surrounding counties: Kemper, Neshoba, Newton, Jasper, and Clarke (in Mississippi), and Sumter and Choctaw (in Alabama). [9]
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.
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is a nonprofit organization that operates four museums in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The organization is headquartered in the Carnegie Institute and Library complex in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The Carnegie Institute complex, which includes the original museum, recital hall, and library, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 1979.
Mount Vernon Square is a city square and neighborhood in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The square is located where the following streets would otherwise intersect: Massachusetts Avenue NW, New York Avenue NW, K Street NW, and 8th Street NW.
The Children’s Museum of Manhattan is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded by Bette Korman, under the name GAME, in 1973. The museum became the Children’s Museum of Manhattan in the 1980s and moved to its current location on West 83rd Street in 1989. In 2018, the museum announced a plan to relocate to a larger space on 96th Street and Central Park West.
Reuben Harrison Hunt, also known as R. H. Hunt, was an American architect who spent most of his life in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He is considered to have been one of the city's most significant early architects. He also designed major public building projects in other states. He was a principal of the R.H. Hunt and Co. firm.
Lauderdale is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, United States. The population of Lauderdale was 395 at the 2020 census. It is located along U.S. Highway 45, 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Meridian.
Highland Park is a historic park in Meridian, Mississippi, United States. Home to a museum honoring Jimmie Rodgers, a Meridian native, the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The park is also home to the Highland Park Dentzel Carousel and Shelter Building, a National Historic Landmark manufactured around 1896 by Gustav Dentzel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The historic carousel is the only two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie still in existence.
The Riley Center, also known as the Grand Opera House and formally as the Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts, is a performing arts and conference center in Meridian, Mississippi. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
The Threefoot Building is a historic office building located in downtown Meridian, Mississippi named after the Threefoot family who owned an operated a business in downtown Meridian during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Designed by Claude H. Lindsley and completed in 1929 in the Art Deco style, the 16-story building is still the tallest in the city. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 18, 1979, under the Meridian Multiple Property Submission of buildings contributing to the historic nature of the city's downtown. In 2008 the Threefoot was recognized by the state as a Mississippi Landmark.
First Presbyterian Church of Meridian is a historic church in Meridian, Mississippi, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The church was founded in 1856 by eight members including John T. Ball and Lewis A. Ragsdale, founders of the city of Meridian. The reverend at the time was William Curtis Emerson.
The history of Meridian, Mississippi begins in the early 19th century before European-American settlement. Originally settled by the Choctaw Indians, the land was bought by the United States according to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. The city grew around the intersection of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and the Southern Railway of Mississippi and developed a largely rail-based economy. Although much of the city was burned down in the Battle of Meridian during the American Civil War, the city was rebuilt and entered a "Golden Age." Between about 1890 and 1930, the city was the largest in Mississippi and a leading center for manufacturing in the Southern United States. After the decline of the railroading industry in the 1950s, the city's economy was devastated, resulting in a slow population decline. The population has continued to decline as the city has struggled to create a new, more modern economy based on newer industries. In the past 20 years or so, Meridian has attempted to revitalize the city's economy by attracting more business and industry to the city, most specifically the downtown area.
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.
Addison Hutton (1834–1916) was a Philadelphia architect who designed prominent residences in Philadelphia and its suburbs, plus courthouses, hospitals, and libraries, including the Ridgway Library, now Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He made major additions to the campuses of Westtown School, George School, Swarthmore College, Bryn Mawr College, Haverford College, and Lehigh University.
A Mississippi Landmark is a building officially nominated by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and approved by each county's chancery clerk. The Mississippi Landmark designation is the highest form of recognition bestowed on properties by the state of Mississippi, and designated properties are protected from changes that may alter the property's historic character. Currently there are 890 designated landmarks in the state. Mississippi Landmarks are spread out between eighty-one of Mississippi's eighty-two counties; only Issaquena County has no such landmarks.
There are nine historic districts in Meridian, Mississippi. Each of these districts is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. One district, Meridian Downtown Historic District, is a combination of two older districts, Meridian Urban Center Historic District and Union Station Historic District. Many architectural styles are present in the districts, most from the late 19th century and early 20th century, including Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Italianate, Art Deco, Late Victorian, and Bungalow.
McLemore Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Meridian, Mississippi, United States. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 18, 1979, and is the oldest surviving historic site in the city.
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.
Penn Jeffries Krouse, usually known as P. J. Krouse was a prolific architect in the state of Mississippi. Many of his buildings were located in the Meridian area.
The numerous historic hotels in Meridian, Mississippi, provide insights into the city's growth and expansion, both in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and into the modern age. Many hotels were built in downtown Meridian in the early 1900s to provide lodging for passengers of the railroad, which was essential to the city's growth at the turn of the 20th century. Two of these historic hotels–the Union Hotel, built in 1910, and the Lamar Hotel, built in 1927–have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Harrison Center is a community-based arts nonprofit based in the Old Northside Historic District of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The center hosts 36 artists in 24/7 studios, eight galleries, and serves 93,000 annually.