Exhibitions

The exhibitions at the Baltimore Museum of Industry document the stories of the workers and entrepreneurs who built Baltimore into a manufacturing powerhouse.

Baltimore has long been recognized as a major industrial center and is home to the nation’s first passenger railway, oldest gas company, first traffic light, and many other inventions and innovations.

 
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Virtual Walk-through

Temporary Exhibitions

Food for Thought

Food For Thought highlights Food and Nutrition Service workers at Baltimore City Public Schools. The exhibition consists of portraits by J.M. Giordano, interviews produced by Aaron Henkin, and hands-on activities. Open throughout 2023. Learn more.

Shuttered: Images from the Fall of Bethlehem Steel

The grandson of a steel worker, photographer J.M. Giordano has spent more than 15 years capturing the impact of the mill’s decline and closure on his hometown of Baltimore. Learn more.

Permanent Exhibitions

Step Back in Time to the Early Days of a Port City… From Baltimore’s early days as a trading port and hub of manufacturing to its modern identity as a center for research, retail, technology, and tourism, visitors can discover the businesses and inventions that forged the Industrial Revolution and propelled Maryland into the 21st century. 

The Neighborhood Corner Bar

Discover a fixture of working-class neighborhoods throughout Baltimore. A place to drink, discuss and find community among the regulars. Learn more.

Fire & Shadow

Explore the story of Baltimore’s Sparrows Point steel mill, once the world’s largest producer of the world’s most important product. Learn more.

Cannery 

Walk through the 1865 Platt and Company oyster cannery, the only surviving cannery building in Baltimore.  

Decker Gallery

Stand beneath the 1937 Mini-Mariner, the flying prototype of a WWII PBM flying boat bomber, restored by some of the same Baltimore-area workers that built it. 

Machine Shop & Forge

Feel the heat of the forge and the vibration of a belt driven machine shop. Live demonstrations most Saturdays.

Pharmacy

Step into a 1910 pharmacy, like the one where world-famous Noxzema skin cream was invented.

Print Shop

See a working 1936 Linotype machine and vintage printing presses. Live demonstrations of the Linotype OCCURRING MONTHLY  (Call for schedule)

Fueling the Automobile Age

Explore how the two local oil companies helped fuel America’s automobile age.  Learn more.

Communications Gallery

Find out how telecommunications have changed from the time of the telegraph to the age of the smartphone. Learn more.

Garment Loft

Tour a circa-1929 garment loft similar to those once key to Baltimore’s industrial development.

Food Processing Gallery

From Berger Cookies to Old Bay, learn about familiar brands that got their start right here in Baltimore.

 

Outdoor Exhibitions

Bethlehem Steel Clyde Model 17 DE 90 Crane

The largest artifact in the museum’s collection is the colossal crane that watches sentinel over the museum’s campus. Learn more.

Steam Tug Baltimore

Look outside for the 1906 steam tug Baltimore, once the official welcome vessel for the City of Baltimore. Learn more.

Past Exhibitions

Women of Steel

The BMI’s first-ever outdoor exhibition features women at work at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point plant. Learn more.

The 20th Century Woman at Work

Find out how women’s clothing has changed over time. Learn more.

Past Exhibitions

The Baltimore Museum of Industry offers an ever-changing variety of exhibitions. Learn more.


Photos contributed by Washington DC Photographer Aaron Clamage

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