The city continued to grow thanks to a commission government 's efforts to bring in 90 new industrial plants in 1913 and a booming automobile industry in the 1920s . Even through the stock market crash of 1929 and the following Great Depression , the city continued to attract new businesses . With escapism becoming popular in the culture during the depth of the Depression , the S. H. Kress & Co. building , built to " provide luxury to the common man , " opened in downtown Meridian , as did the Temple Theater , which was used as a movie house . The federal courthouse was built in 1933 as a WPA project .