Carnegie Branch Library for Blacks

Andrew Carnegie's money for Meridian came in two unequal parts: $30,000 for a whites-only main library and $8,000 for a branch for Black residents. The branch opened in March 1913 on land given by African Methodist Episcopal churches. It had its own advisory board, chaired first by Dr. J. Beverly Shaw of the Haven Institute, and its first librarian was Mary Rayford Collins. The city desegregated its libraries in 1964, then closed this building in September 1974 as no longer usable. It was listed on the National Register in 1979 and demolished in 2008.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Jimmie Rodgers Museum — 0.3 mi
  The museum in Meridian that holds the guitar of the Singing Brakeman, Jimmie Rodgers, the first inductee of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
• Meridian Civil Rights Trail — 0.6 mi
  An 18-stop self-guided trail through Meridian, from the Black business district and the 1964 Freedom Summer office to Wechsler School, the federal courthouse and James Chaney's grave.
• Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience — 0.6 mi
  Meridian's two-level museum of Mississippi artists and entertainers, opened in 2018, with a Hall of Fame and a Walk of Fame that leads to it from the Riley Center.
• Highland Park Dentzel Carousel — 0.9 mi
  The last two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie in the world, in its original carousel house in Meridian's Highland Park, a National Historic Landmark since 1987.

More markers nearby

• Wechsler School — 0.2 mi
• Merrehope — 0.3 mi
• Temple Theater — 0.4 mi
• Meridian Rhythm & Blues and Soul Music — 0.5 mi