Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum

Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum at historic Soulé Steam Feed Works preserves and interprets a turn-of-the-20th-century factory complex that manufactured steam engines and other industrial items from 1892-2002. The site is the last, intact steam engine manufacturing facility in the United States. It appears that workers just stepped away from their machines after World War II, leaving everything ready for their return.

The current exhibition "Celebrate America’s Industrial Revolution: WORK" was developed in collaboration between the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum and Smithsonian Museums on Main Street, examines the impact of American workers on national and local history. Hard-working people of every ethnicity, class, gender, and age power our nation. This installation features the stories of Soulé and the inventors and industrial producers who made Meridian a key player in America's Industrial Revolution of the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Museum is noted for the Soule' Live Steam Festival, always held on the first Saturday of November. It is also known for hosting Maker Faire Meridian, a first for Mississippi and neighboring Alabama.

Exhibits

The museum is located in America's last remaining steam engine factory. Foundry, belt-driven machine shop and office still retains much of the historic equipment and looks as if the workers just stepped away for lunch. The current exhibit interprets the site with stories of the American worker. Other displays tell the story of founder George W. Soulé along with other Mississippi inventors and industrialists that fueled the Industrial Revolution from 1870 to 1914. Self-guided tours usually last about an hour. Museum is open 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (last tour entry is 3:30 p.m.)

Participation in Museum Day is open to any tax-exempt or governmental museum or cultural venue on a voluntary basis. Smithsonian magazine encourages museum visitation, but is not responsible for and does not endorse the content of the participating museums and cultural venues, and does not subsidize museums that participate.