By Jennifer Jacob Brownjjacob@themeridianstar.com
For about the past 20 years, Meridian has been home to several nationally recognized historic preservation districts. But until Thursday, only one had markers proclaiming it as such.
After a fundraising campaign by Dr. Sonny Rush, the Poplar Springs Historic Preservation District became the second historic district in Meridian to have an official marker.
Though congress first passed legislation to designate historic places in 1968, it took a long time for the program to be funded, and most of Meridian's historic districts were designated as such in the 1980's.
To qualify as a historic district, an area must have a high concentration of buildings with historical architectural significance that are at least 50 years old. All of those buildings have to be documented, and photos and descriptions of them sent to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Once Archives and History approves the districts, they send the information on to the National Park Service, which then approves the district to be added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Designation as a historic district doesn't automatically come with a marker. The markers must be purchased at a cost of $1,700, and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History must approve the wording on the marker before it is granted.
The banners and historic marker in the Poplar Springs district are there because of a joint effort by homeowners. Dr. Sonny Rush developed a passion about preserving Poplar Springs as a historic residential area, and decided to recruit people to the cause.
He sent out letters and went door to door, getting his neighbors to join the Poplar Springs Historic Society. The society pooled money to fund the marker as well as numerous banners on Poplar Springs Drive light posts, and gained approval for them from the city council.
Now that the marker and banners are in place, Rush said the next thing on the society's agenda is to try to have Soule type benches placed along Poplar Springs Drive, possibly along with special light posts and street signs.
Rush called the Poplar Springs district the "St. Charles of Meridian," and said one of his main goals is to prevent parts of the district from being rezoned for business.
Dr. Rush gave a brief history of the district. Before it was ever a street, he said, Poplar Springs Drive was a cattle trail. There was a spring north of Meridian, and around the turn of the century, cattle meandered along the trail to reach the springs, giving Poplar Springs Drive it's curvy shape, which is fairly unusual in Meridian.
In the 1910s and '20s, wealthy families in Meridian began to move north, he said, building many of the large homes that still stand along Poplar Springs Drive. The area was developed by M.R. Grant, who named it Marion Park after his daughter. There was a streetcar that brought passengers from downtown Meridian to the Poplar Springs area, and one of the banners marks the old streetcar stop.
Rush said he wants Poplar Springs to serve as a conduit from the Arts District downtown to North Meridian.
The two markers downtown — one marking the African-American historic business district, and the other marking the Union Station historic district — were acquired in the 1990s. At the time they were acquired, the markers recognized two separate districts, but in 2006, the two districts were merged, along with a few other historic areas downtown. Now, those two markers are both within the Meridian Downtown Historic Preservation District.
There are seven historic districts in Meridian: Highlands, which includes Highland Park; Merrehope, which includes the Merrehope and F.W. Williams homes; West End, just south of the Merrehope district; East End, which is east of downtown; Mid-town, which is just south of the Poplar Springs district and north of downtown; Poplar Springs, which runs north to south from Meridian High School to 22nd Street.; and the Meridian Downtown historic district, which is in the southern part of downtown, from Fifth Street to Front Street.
Source: The Meridian Star
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