Meridian, the County Seat of Bosque County, is on the North Bosque River, the Santa Fe rail line and State Highways 6, 22, 144 and 174, forty seven miles northwest of Waco near the center of the county.  The community originated in 1854, when the legislature established Bosque County and appointed six commissioners to choose a centrally located site for the county seat.  When a proposed donation of 100 acres from Dr. Josephus M. Steiner and twenty acres from Andrew Montgomery met the location requirement, the commission accepted the land and hired George B. Erath to survey a town site.  The origin of the community’s name is somewhat obscure.  Commissioner Jasper N. Mabray proposed the name, which according to legend recognized both Meridian Creek and Meridian Knobs, previously named by Erath for their proximity to the ninety-eighth meridian.  Growth proceeded slowly after the town lot sale of July 4, 1854.  By fall William McCurry had built a one room log courthouse; a series of buildings replaced it over the years.  A tavern opened before the end of 1854. 

Postmaster Joseph W. Smith established the first county post office in Meridian in 1856.  A general variety store opened at the community in 1861.  All the pre-Civil War businesses appear to have been housed in log structures.  The Bosque Beacon, the town’s first newspaper, was published from 1866 to 1868 and the town has been served almost constantly by newspapers ever since.  Meridian appears to have boomed during the 1880s.  The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe rail line crossed Bosque County in 1881, passing 1 ½ miles east of Meridian.  Before the advent of rail transportation, the town had been on a state route between Waco and Stephenville.  Speculators divided the area around the new depot into town lots, anticipating that the new site would become the county seat.  A cotton gin and a store did open in East Meridian, but the core of the town remained at the original site.  Despite the inconvenience of the railroad’s location, the older town prospered as a shipping center for surrounding farms.

During the late 1920s the town experienced a decline, possibly started by a drought and later accelerated by the Great Depression.  Its population fell from 1,074 in 1920 to 759 in 1930.  Afterward the number of residents generally increased and in 1980 was reported as 1,330 and 1,539 reported in 2000.  Along the years, several prominent Texans have called the Meridian area home, including folklorist John A. Lomax, United States Senator Earle B. Mayfield, and state attorney general and Supreme Court Judge Calvin M. Cureton. 

An annual Chuckwagon Cookoff is held each March, Fundango & Go Texan Barbecue Cookoff in June, the Duncan Seawright Memorial Antique Tractor Show and Pull in June, the National Championship Barbecue Cookoff in October and the annual Christmas Celebration in December.