Wechsler School

The school took its name from Rabbi Judah Wechsler of Congregation Beth Israel, who helped build support for it. Meridian voted a $30,000 bond in 1888, and the brick building opened in 1894, when about 30 percent of the city's children were Black. Grades nine through twelve were added between 1915 and 1922, making it the only public high school for Black students in east central Mississippi until T. J. Harris High School opened in 1937. It served as a school until 1983. An arts center formed there in 1990, and the building joined the National Register in 1991.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Jimmie Rodgers Museum — 0.6 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.
• Highland Park Dentzel Carousel — 0.6 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.
• Meridian Civil Rights Trail — 0.8 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 — 0.9 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.

More markers nearby

• Carnegie Branch Library for Blacks — 0.2 mi
• Merrehope — 0.4 mi
• Temple Theater — 0.6 mi
• Meridian Rhythm & Blues and Soul Music — 0.7 mi