A retrospective of how things were made and how hard people worked in the early 20th century will be offered this weekend in downtown Meridian.

The 17th annual Soule’ Live Steam Festival will be held at the historic Soule’ Steam FeedWorks, America’s last intact steam engine factory.

If You Go

What: Soule’ Live Steam Festival

When: Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1-2, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Where: Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum, Historic Soule’ Steam Works, 1808 Fourth St., downtown Meridian.

Admission: $5; free to students;

Information: www.soulelivesteam.com or soulelivesteam@comcast.net or call 601-693-9905

“This is an opportunity for everyone to experience what it was like to work at Soule’, and see how people worked and how hard the work was,” said Greg Hatcher, executive director of the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum at Soule’ Steam FeedWorks.

The festival also is a testament to the preservation of Meridian’s industrial heritage.

“Which is very important,” Hatcher emphasized. “We don’t need to forget how to make things and how things are made. Soule’ is one of the very few examples in America of how you can take a raw material — which is iron and coke for the firing of it — and turn it into a finished product in a workable size area.”

About Soule’

Soule’ Steam Feed Works is recognized as the last surviving steam engine factory in the United States.

“It’s a lot rarer today than when we purchased it in 2002; several of the sites that were comparable to Soule’ have been lost since that time,” Hatcher said.

The Soulé company closed in 2002 and was purchased by Meridian businessman Jim McRae, who, according to the company’s history, wanted to preserve this important part of history. Today, only three similar sites have been preserved and are open to the public.

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 driveshaft to power equipment. As visitors walk through the foundry — a state-of-the-art industrial building when it was built in 1917 —they will see the Paxson Cupola Furnace, which was red 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 museum features an impressive collection of portable and stationary steam engines, which will operate using “live steam.” Live steam uses steam pressure to operate the engines instead of compressed air or mechanical motors to simulate their operation. Detailed model steam engines are steamed up and a wide variety of informative and entertaining industrial/craftsman demonstrations featured.

2019 Soule’ Live Steam Festival

More than 2,000 steam enthusiasts attended last year’s festival and organizers expect that number — and more — at this year’s event.

“It’s a step back in time,” Hatcher said of the annual live steam festival. “We have people from more than 21 states to attend each year, people from Hawaii and Alaska and other locations.”

Volunteers will be available each day to demonstrate the factory’s steam engines as festival-goers tour the facility. The Soulé family manufactured the famous Soulé Rotary and Spee-D-Twin steam engines from 1892-1982. More than 4,300 Spee-D-twin engines were manufactured and sold worldwide. The Spee- D-Twin engines were individually assembled and tested in the building’s upstairs area. Crankshafts, piston rods, oilers and other engine parts still await the assembly workers’ return. The last Spee-D-Twin engine built — number 4,301— remains at the factory and is operated in the Steam Engine Demonstration Room.

Other steam engines in the museum’s collection include a 1905 Watts-Campbell Corliss, 1870 Manchester Locomotive Works, Taylor Tiger, Frick and Memphis Machine Works. More than 16 steam engines will be operating during the event. Model steam engines will also be shown and operated.

Demonstrations in the facility’s belt-driven machine shop will be operated by students from the Industrial Technology Program at Meridian Community College.

“The machines will be operated at full-speed,” Hatcher said, noting the machines operate at a slower speed during the museum’s regular guided tours. “It’s a great opportunity to see the machine shop working as it would have during the early 20th century.”

In addition to steam engines, a model gas engine display will be presented by Chicago-native Ed Smerz.

YouTube sensation @ABom79 will be on site for a meet-and-greet.

“He’s a home machinist and has more than 337,000 subscribers on YouTube,” Hatcher said. “Clarke Easterling at Windy Hill Foundry — who does iron pour displays at the festival and is one of our volunteers — invited him to the festival last year and he came and checked us out. We’re excited that he decided to be part of the festival this year.”

Also, the Carousel Organ Association of America’s Fall Rally will be on-site both days of the live steam festival.

“We’ve got 13 people from several different locations bringing their organs to perform ‘the happiest music on Earth’ during the festival activities,” Hatcher said.

Other attractions include Earth’s Bounty Farmer’s Market Saturday morning for those interested in homegrown vegetables and homemade food items. And the Vintage Wheels Car Club will host the Soulé Antique Car Show Saturday morning during the event, weather permitting.

The Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum is located at 1808 Fourth St., downtown Meridian. The museum is open for guided tours Tuesday through Saturday at 9:30 and 11 a.m., and 1:30 p.m.