The Meridian Baptist Seminary was founded as one of the early educational institutions for blacks in eastern Mississippi. It provided secular and religious instruction on the secondary school level from 1896 until its closure in 1972. (Wechsler School, located one block away, did not begin offering high school diplomas until 1920.) It was individually listed on the National Register on 8 January 1979, from a nomination prepared by MDAH architectural historian Jack Gold. The Meridian Baptist Seminary building burned to the ground in September 2007 after many years of abandonment. It was subsequently delisted from the National Register on 16 July 2008. |