Meridian City Map Poster

About Meridian

Meridian is part of the Boise City–Nampa, Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area. Meridian was founded in 1904 along the Oregon Short Line Railroad and became an incorporated city on March 24, 1905. The city's name comes from its location near the geographical center of Ada County; originally it was named "Center" but there already existed a town by that name so it was changed to Meridian to avoid repetition. It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names. In 1915, at a cost estimated between $300 and $400 thousand (equivalent to about $5 million today), Meridian built an elaborate system which included two tunnels under downtown streets for moving sewage from homes into central treatment facilities located west of town off Warm Springs Avenue (now known as Westcliff Drive).