The association came to be when in 1963 some local gentlemen met at the Gaslight Inn in Boonville, and the idea came to light. The club was officially organized in 1964, and the first show was held in Boonville where the current MFA is found. The following years it was held at the Cooper County Fair grounds. 

In the late 1990’s, Dennis Ficken, one of our members, was building his gas station across from Mr. Arnold Brady’s farm. Mr. Brady was a local farmer with a tract of land East of Boonville on Highway 179. His family had farmed the land in Cooper County since purchasing the farm in 1917. He commonly came over to talk to Dennis. One day while discussing the farm and other daily conversation, Dennis asked him what he would do with the farm, as he was getting older and having troubles taking care of it and the other bottom land he owned. He said he might give it to the VFW or the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He wanted the farm preserved and a monument made in memory of his family, and he didn’t want the land to become a subdivision or for there to be any of those “dang condos” built on it.  Dennis asked if he would consider giving the MRVSEA an opportunity to develop the land for our steam engine show and thereby show the history of farming throughout the ages. Two weeks later Mr. Brady told Dennis he had a great idea. He said he would sell the land  to the steam engine association with the stipulation that when he died we would owe him nothing more and the land was used for education of farming and farm life. The association can never sell the land.

In 1997, the purchase was complete and the first Steam Engine Show was held at the newly dubbed “Brady Showgrounds” in September of 1999. There is a marble memorial honoring Mr. Arnold Brady and family at the corner of the showgrounds closest to I-70. During the Steam Engine Show you can tour the Brady Farmhouse which has many items from and information about the Brady family.