Meridian is a city in central Texas that serves as the county seat of Bosque County, about 47 miles northwest of Waco and near the northern edge of the Hill Country. The town was laid out in 1854, when Dr. Josephus Steiner and Andrew Montgomery donated 120 acres after Norwegian settlers arrived in the area, and lots were auctioned that same year. The county was surveyed by George Bernard Erath, whose name survives in neighboring Erath County. The 1886 Bosque County Courthouse, with its white stone facade and clock, still anchors the square and defines the town's civic center. With a population of about 1,400, Meridian is a small but complete community: it has its own two-campus school district, a working courthouse square, and a local economy centered on ranching and agriculture. Its location at the top of the Hill Country gives the surrounding landscape a distinct character — rolling limestone hills, open pasture, and creeks that feed the Bosque River system. Meridian State Park, developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, sits three miles southwest of town and is the area's signature outdoor asset, with a 72-acre lake offering swimming, fishing, and no-wake boating alongside hiking and biking trails. Waco, the nearest larger city, is roughly an hour's drive and provides shopping, healthcare, employment, and airport access. Meridian suits people seeking a genuine small-town, county-seat way of life: a historic courthouse square, a tight-knit school district, ranching country, and a state park at the edge of town — with the convenience of Waco within reach.