Baltimore made things — oysters by the billion, umbrellas, ships, airplanes — and the Baltimore Museum of Industry keeps the machines humming. Housed in an 1865 oyster cannery on the Locust Point waterfront, the BMI recreates the city’s working world: a print shop with singing presses, a garment loft, a machine shop, a pharmacy and the cannery lines where Baltimore shucked its way to fame.
The museum’s crown jewel rides the water: the SS Baltimore, a 1906 steam tug — the oldest operating coal-fired tug in America — moored outside. Inside, hands-on galleries let kids run a factory assembly line and pack oyster cans, and the Decker Gallery’s exhibitions trace industries from Domino Sugar to Black & Decker (both Baltimore-born).
The BMI is at 1415 Key Highway. Hours and programs at thebmi.org — a five-minute drive from the Inner Harbor, a century back in time.
