Things You Didn’t Know About Meridian, ID

Meridian was established back in 1891 on Onweiler farm in the north of the present site, called Hunter. However, after two years, I.O.O.F lodge was organized, which called itself Meridian, since it was located on the Boise Meridian and hence, the town was renamed. As a city, Meridian was incorporated in 1903, and it has been a beautiful place to live and visit ever since.

The very early settlers of Meridian had no knowledge of gravity flow irrigation. The majority of their homes were located in areas where they had to rely on rain water to raise their crops. Because of this, irrigation became a necessity and, for having a water source, required receiving patents for the land from U.S. Land Office.



Irrigation was serious hard work and required long hours. Even though newer methods were introduced for irrigation, it was still a daily task for the person in charge of agricultural crops. A lot of the early settlers also moved to the land where rain fell instead of remaining where watering the crops was a full-time occupation.

Back in 1893, Meridian town site was filed on homestead grand land, which originally belonged to Eliza Ann Zenger. Christian, who was her husband, filed the plat with the county officials and called it Meridian. A lot of the early settlers of Meridian were relatives of Eliza Ann, and they came here via wagon train or railroad car along with their lodge and church preferences.

These early settlers also established fruit orchards and built fruit packing businesses and prune dryers along the railroad tracks. The city of Meridian remained a village till the mid-1940s, however, it was in 1941 that Meridian’s status changed from a village to a city.

After an initial raising of $4,000, the interurban rail line was laid from Onweiler and into the village center. This railroad turned east on Broadway and ended at East Second. Usually, the last car would spend the night in Meridian before it returned to Boise the next morning with passengers and freight. Later on, in 1912, the interurban station and generator building were built and the line continued on to Nampa via Meridian. The tracks that were laid on Broadway were used after 1912.



Later in 1928, the Interurban Company entered into receivership and officially closed. During these 20 years, it provided one of the most economical transportation services to people to the neighboring towns and was considered as the main connection to the area outside of the local community.

In 1929, the Ada County Dairymen’s cooperative creamery began its operation. These were the lowest days of the Great Depression. This creamery provided milk checks to the people who were a member of the cooperative, thus enabling them to pay off their taxes and provide food for their families.



This creamery was open seven days a week during these 40 years and several additions and upgrades were made. Wyeth Laboratories also got affiliated with this creamery for the manufacturing of SMA baby formula. Later in the 1970s, this creamery closed its operations and the dairymen’s milk was now shipped to the Caldwell creamery for its processing.

As per the United States Census Bureau, the city of Meridian has a total area of 26.84 square miles, of which 26.79 square miles is land and roughly 0.05 square miles is water. As a whole, most part of this city lies on a flat plain. It has two rivers: The Boise River and The Snake River. The Boise rivers runs to the north of the city while the Snake River runs far south.



As for the city’s climate, it is semi-arid and has four distinct seasons. During summers, it is hot and dry with temperatures exceeding 100-degree F at times. During winters, snowfall is a common occurrence. Rainfall in Meridian is very infrequent and light. As a whole, you will enjoy the four different seasons of this city.

Being the number one Meridian pest control company and having a family history in the pest control business, Averse Pest Control is well aware of the history, art and culture of this beautiful city.

This place is simply epic and there are a lot of fun things for you to do whenever you visit this city. You can consider Meridian as “The Biggest Small Town” that has a population of just over 200,000, and has a peaceful atmosphere and environment.

If you are thinking for a trip to Meridian with your kids, make sure to have them read this article to get to know more about its history and culture.