The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-01
|OLD YEAR WAS VERY GOOD ID MERIDIAN A Big Increase in Building
 Permits TO ERECT CITY HALL Good Boards Bonds Amounting to $2cO,0o0 Sold in Meridian Beat.
 One Hundred Miles of Side
 walks We're Laid
TO ERECT CITY HALL

Meridian, Miss, December a.-(Specialo There is probably no city in the south that seen an era of greater prosperity and
 general internal development than has Meridian during the past 12 months, end- ing today.
 Forty-eight years ago the present me- tropolis of Mississippi was only a small flag station known as Sowashee. and
 named for the small stream or creek
 which now passes through its suburbs,
 Later the name was changed by the leg
 islature to Meridian and since that time Meridian has come to be the largest city of the state, and is one of the most 1 talked about cities in America.
 Building permits for Meridian for the past year represented an outlay of more l than $500000 on business houses and resi- dences, an increase over 1910 of $l50,000. | and over 1909 of more than s2000O0.
 | The coming year will no doubt see
 greater prosperity and building aetivi-
 ties than any period of 12 months in the 1 history of the city. Among the buildings which are assured are the Stonewall clubhouse. to cost sSO00o; the Carnegie ! Public library for white people. to cost | $40,000; Carnegie library for negroes, to cost $10,000; seven story office building I for the Knights of Pythias of Meridian, | to cost $100,000; Hamilton suburban park
 to cost ssooOo; railroad terminals, to cost | $1O0.000. and many Improvements to be
 made in all departments of the city. l The ground has been selected and all | 1o fo,, .1f o
 new city hall for Meridian. Bonds have
 been voted and sold and s75,OO0 Is now
 on hand to be used for this purpose. Me l ridian will have a city hall to cost in
 the neighborhood of s15o.oOo
 During the past year bonds have been
 sold for good roads in this beat, the Me-
 ridian beat, in the sum of $l00,0O0 The | good roads that have been built and
 which are still in course of building will
 be connected with the paved streets of
 the city proper by macadam roads, to
 cost about $50,0o0
 Among the structures that have been
 built in the past year and which reflect
 the progress of Meridian are the follow
 ing: The Union hotel. $3O0O0 the Citi-
 zens National Bank building, sS5,OoO; the New Standard club, $S0,O00. A manual I training school. costing $45.o00. is nearing
 completion. and was begun this winter; | three brick fire stations replaced old an- I tiquated wooden structures during the ! past year: some of the most beautiful res 1 idences in the city and in the state have I been built in this city during the past l 12 months; an addition and handsome all l terations have been made on the federal | building at an expense of $65,0O0.
 | Nearly 100 miles of concrete sidewalk
 paving have been laid during the past year. one of the greatest successes of
 the past year was the great Mississippi
 Alabama fair, which was the best ever 1 held in the state, and one of the best | in the south. With capital of $100.0O0, | the fair held it's first exposition, and | oyer all expenses and miscellaneous ex- penditures netted the stockholders $65O0. | Two railroads have begun building out ] from Meridian, both going in the di- | rection of the deep water port, Pensacola, Fla. The grading and construction of the Meridian and Deepwater railroad is pro-
 gressng nicely, and as soon as the sur vey is completed construction work on the Memphis and Pensacola road will begin in this city and in Pensacola The shops of each road will be built here beginning some time In 1912 Terminal sites have already been purchased and the property cleared off, preparatory to beginning the erection of the buildings At expenditure of more than $30.000 a local concern has installed a complete
 and up 10 date cold storage plant in Me ridian during the past year. Land values have been enhanced more than ever be- fore in the history of the city, and subur-
 ban lots are coming to be the most pop
 ular and in great demand with tb~ build ing of the eight stretches of Improved highways that radiate from Meridian as spokes from a wheel.
 In the past years remarkable history for the city of Meridian, nothing has re- iected her era of prosperity more than the increase shown in the automobile n- dustry here The coming of the. good roads and the building of several miles of paved streets and avenues has induced
 many to purchase cars during the past 12 months. The year of 1911 saw more than 100 automobiles sold in Meridian, the best year in that industry ever before record ed here. The machines that were brought here were of high grade, and were far above the average run of cars. This item alone represents more than $150000.
 The prosperity that has been so marked In Meridian during the past year is but
 an illustration of the conditions which exist throughout east Mississippi.