Lower Mississippi River Museum

A city that endured a 47-day siege, its fate hinging on control of the river, now maintains a museum dedicated to the forces that shape that same current. The Lower Mississippi River Museum, operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and free to enter, covers the Great Flood of 1927, which displaced 640,000 people across the Delta. Scale models show the flood-control infrastructure engineered after the catastrophe — the basin-wide system of levees and diversions that followed. Docked outside, open for self-guided tours, the M/V Mississippi is the fourth U.S. Army Corps of Engineers vessel to carry that name. The diesel-powered research vessel has an all-steel superstructure and two 8-cylinder engines of 1860 horsepower each. Controllable pitch propellers allowed reverse thrust of over 70% in the forward direction. Four levels rise from the hull: main deckhouse, second deckhouse, Texas deckhouse, and pilothouse. It served as a towboat and inspection vessel until decommissioned in 1993, moved to its permanent land berth on September 26, 2007. The museum was authorized under the Water Resources Development Act of 1992, with design consultation from the Smithsonian Institution and interpretive programs developed with the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service. It is the first museum in the United States to house a fully restored, dry docked riverboat. The building sits on the Yazoo Diversion Canal, steps from the Dafford murals. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 AM to 4:30 PM.