EVENT
Maker Faire Meridian
TO BE ANNOUNCED
ADMISSION: FREE
In 2026 Soulé Steam Museum will join Maker Faires from around the world for the Greatest Show and Tell on Earth. The 10th Annual Maker Faire Meridian is a FREE, family-friendly event that gives everyone an opportunity for conversations with Makers — crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, inventors, photographers, tech enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs. Everyone comes together to show their projects and to talk about what they have learned. This experience inspires everyone to become a Maker and connects people with projects in their community. Yet, Maker Faire is a “fair” – fun, engaging and exciting. It is held at historic Soule’ Steam Works—where the past, present and future can be imagined. This event is fun for all ages!
EXHIBITION
Discover America's Industrial Revolution at Soule' Steam Museum
March 10 - June 28, 2026
$10 Adult, $7 Student
Children under age 3 are free.
Self-Guided Tours
Come Experience Historic Soulé Steam Feed Works as you discover America’s Industrial Revolution. The exhibit illustrates how the Soule' family, workers and other similar industries across the country contributed in making America an economic and industrial giant. Industrial heritage exhibits throughout the museum celebrate the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of Meridian, a community that thrived in spite of Sherman’s destructive campaign that destroyed the city on February 14, 1864.
Step back in time and experience how people worked in the early 20th century. Soulé Steam Feed Works is the last remaining steam engine factory in the United States and offers a glimpse at how hard people worked. Visit the 1907 belt-driven machine shop that looks much as it did prior to World War II. The Foundry is complete with cupola furnace, core-making department and pattern shop. The Soulé office contains many of the original furnishings dating from the 1930s. An indoor forge provides the blacksmith with a modern means of forging iron into shapes needed at the factory. Learn about the Foundrymen, Pattern-Makers, Journeyman Machinists, and other workers that built the products sold around the world.
Discover how inventor and industrialist George W. Soulé and other talented individuals contributed to the development of industry in Meridian and the Deep South. See examples of Soulé steam engines, patents and other products he designed and manufactured. Learn what natural resources from the Meridian area were used to build the great industrial cities of the northern United States. See examples steam engines that powered industry during this period and learn how steam power was important in building the nation.
Did you know Rosie the Riveter’s connection to Meridian? Find out at the Soule' Steam Museum and listen to the original 1940s song about her.
Who created the first ethnic hair product manufacturer in the world? Visit the museum and see early examples of these African-American products.
See the most complex machine ever designed and built in the late 1800s and find out the revolution it caused in publishing at the Gower letterpress print shop.
Two examples of the world’s only manufactured and successfully marketed rotary steam engine are on display at the museum.
Did you know that many child labor issues in the South were resolved in Meridian. Find out more at the museum.
What company town near Meridian became known at the “brightest town south of St. Louis”?
What Meridian business became the basis of one of the largest educational foundations in Mississippi?
Come Experience Historic Soulé Steam Feed Works as you discover America’s Industrial Revolution. The exhibit illustrates how the Soule' family, workers and other similar industries across the country contributed in making America an economic and industrial giant. Industrial heritage exhibits throughout the museum celebrate the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit of Meridian, a community that thrived in spite of Sherman’s destructive campaign that destroyed the city on February 14, 1864.
Step back in time and experience how people worked in the early 20th century. Soulé Steam Feed Works is the last remaining steam engine factory in the United States and offers a glimpse at how hard people worked. Visit the 1907 belt-driven machine shop that looks much as it did prior to World War II. The Foundry is complete with cupola furnace, core-making department and pattern shop. The Soulé office contains many of the original furnishings dating from the 1930s. An indoor forge provides the blacksmith with a modern means of forging iron into shapes needed at the factory. Learn about the Foundrymen, Pattern-Makers, Journeyman Machinists, and other workers that built the products sold around the world.
Discover how inventor and industrialist George W. Soulé and other talented individuals contributed to the development of industry in Meridian and the Deep South. See examples of Soulé steam engines, patents and other products he designed and manufactured. Learn what natural resources from the Meridian area were used to build the great industrial cities of the northern United States. See examples steam engines that powered industry during this period and learn how steam power was important in building the nation.
Did you know Rosie the Riveter’s connection to Meridian? Find out at the Soule' Steam Museum and listen to the original 1940s song about her.
Who created the first ethnic hair product manufacturer in the world? Visit the museum and see early examples of these African-American products.
See the most complex machine ever designed and built in the late 1800s and find out the revolution it caused in publishing at the Gower letterpress print shop.
Two examples of the world’s only manufactured and successfully marketed rotary steam engine are on display at the museum.
Did you know that many child labor issues in the South were resolved in Meridian. Find out more at the museum.
What company town near Meridian became known at the “brightest town south of St. Louis”?
What Meridian business became the basis of one of the largest educational foundations in Mississippi?
EVENT
Soule' Spring Steam-Up
Saturday
May 10, 2025
ADMISSION:
$10 Adult, $7 Student
Children under age 5 are free.
On Saturday, May 10 visitors will have another opportunity to experience the sights and sounds of steam engine in operation. More than 10 steam engines will be operating. We will offer opportunities throughout the day for blowing steam whistles. These whistles are from the Museum collection and other whistles brought in from around the region. Held in conjunction with National Train Day, celebrated at Meridian Railroad Museum.
EXHIBITION
Spark! Places of Innovation
July 4 - August 15, 2026
ADMISSION:
EXHIBITION: FREE
MUSEUM:
$10 Adult, $7 StudentChildren under age 5 are free.
Smithsonian Museums on Main Street's exhibition Spark! Places of Innovation comes to the Soulé Steam Museum in Meridian, Mississippi — and you're invited to be part of something exciting on Saturday, July 4th. This special exhibition highlights the inventive spirit that’s helped shape communities across America, including right here in Meridian.
Through interactive displays and local stories, visitors will explore how innovation — past and present — fuels progress in science, technology, the arts, and everyday life. From the groundbreaking steam-powered machinery of Soulé Steam Feed Works to today’s creative problem solvers, you’ll see how Meridian continues to be a hub of ideas and ingenuity.
Spark! isn’t just a look back — it’s a chance for our community to come together, share ideas, and get inspired to shape the future. Join us at Soulé to explore, connect, and discover how you can be part of the next wave of innovation.
Spark! Places of Innovation explores the unique combination of places, people, and circumstances that sparks innovation and invention in rural communities. Inspired by an exhibition by the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, the exhibition features stories gathered from diverse communities across the nation. Photographs, engaging interactives, objects, videos, and digital stories bring a multilayered experience to reveal the leaders, challenges, successes, and future of innovation in each town. Technical, social, cultural, or artistic– every sort of innovation story is as unique as each community and will be represented in this exhibition.
The story of human history is written in inventions and innovations. People are problem solvers. Sometimes we invent. More often, we innovate, introducing a fresh idea or an invention into use in some way that creates a new way of doing or thinking. Rural Americans are creating new products, processes and experiences that change local life and sometimes reach far beyond. Yet, invention and innovation truly flourishes in some places like Meridian and not other communities. Why? This exhibition is brought to Meridian in collaboration with Smithsonian Museums on Main Street, Mississippi Humanities Council and Soulé Steam Museum.
The story of human history is written in inventions and innovations. People are problem solvers. Sometimes we invent. More often, we innovate, introducing a fresh idea or an invention into use in some way that creates a new way of doing or thinking. Rural Americans are creating new products, processes and experiences that change local life and sometimes reach far beyond. Yet, invention and innovation truly flourishes in some places like Meridian and not other communities. Why? This exhibition is brought to Meridian in collaboration with Smithsonian Museums on Main Street, Mississippi Humanities Council and Soulé Steam Museum.
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Event
Soulé Live Steam Show
Friday-Saturday
November 6-7, 2026
ADMISSION:
Adults $10
Student/Child - FREE
The 23rd Annual Soulé Live Steam Show in Meridian, Mississippi will show how things were made and how hard people worked back in the early 20th century. These workers’ efforts in the past have helped improve the standard of living we enjoy today. This event is hosted at historic Soulé Steam Feed Works, America’s last intact steam engine factory. Always held on the first Saturday of November, this year the festival falls on Friday and Saturday, November 6-7, 2026 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This event attracts visitors from across the nation and other countries. They come to celebrate our industrial heritage and experience "Live Steam." The sights, sounds and feel of engines operating using real steam (not compressed air) provides a unique experience for visitors of all ages. Model steam engines are powered by compressed air and live steam. Ask about bringing your engines for display and operation!
The founders of the Industrial Heritage Museum and Soulé Live Steam Show, believe that preserving and interpreting America’s industrial heritage is very important. The Soulé company closed in 2002 and was purchased by a local businessman, Jim McRae. McRae desired to preserve this important part of history. Today, only three (out of five total) similar sites have been preserved and are open to the public on a regular basis. Soulé Steam Feed Works historic factory site tells the story of early 20th century invention, industry and workers like no other place in America. Here visitors can see the manufacturing process from raw material to finished product. More than 50 volunteers and steam-enthusiasts work to make this museum and event possible.
The Soulé factory buildings date to the turn-of-the-20th century. Most of the original equipment and fixtures still remain in place and are in operation during the festival. The 1907 machine shop still uses the original 106’-long, belt-driven drive shaft to power equipment. As you walk through the foundry—a state-of the-art industrial building when it was built in 1917—you’ll find the Paxson Cupola Furnace, which was fired by coke and produced tons of molten iron weekly. The Pattern Shop, housed on the second floor of the foundry, is complete with antique woodworking equipment. The foundry’s core-making department is another rare feature that survives.
The Soulé factory buildings date to the turn-of-the-20th century. Most of the original equipment and fixtures still remain in place and are in operation during the festival. The 1907 machine shop still uses the original 106’-long, belt-driven drive shaft to power equipment. As you walk through the foundry—a state-of the-art industrial building when it was built in 1917—you’ll find the Paxson Cupola Furnace, which was fired by coke and produced tons of molten iron weekly. The Pattern Shop, housed on the second floor of the foundry, is complete with antique woodworking equipment. The foundry’s core-making department is another rare feature that survives.
EVENT
Maker Faire Meridian
TO BE ANNOUNCED
ADMISSION: FREE
In 2026 Soulé Steam Museum will join Maker Faires from around the world for the Greatest Show and Tell on Earth. The 10th Annual Maker Faire Meridian is a FREE, family-friendly event that gives everyone an opportunity for conversations with Makers — crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, inventors, photographers, tech enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs. Everyone comes together to show their projects and to talk about what they have learned. This experience inspires everyone to become a Maker and connects people with projects in their community. Yet, Maker Faire is a “fair” – fun, engaging and exciting. It is held at historic Soule’ Steam Works—where the past, present and future can be imagined. This event is fun for all ages!