History & Articles
Steam Engine Show Will REvive Days Past
Missouri Ruralist
August 23, 1969
One wet wheat crop in Cooper County received special handling this summer. It took hours of hand labor for members to break open bundles harvested for an old time threshing demonstration to be held during the Missouri Valley Steam Engine Show, set for September 5-7, at Boonville. The sixth annual show will be held at the youth fairgrounds, just off Interstate 70, west of town.
Mr. Arnold Brady
By Rob Wilson
Boonville Daily News
2003
On December 9, 2003, Arnold William Brady, a well-known figure around the Cooper County area, passed away at the age of 89. Before he passed away, Brady left a legacy to the Missouri River Valley Steam Engine Association (MRVSEA). On August 17, 1997, Brady donated about 82 acres of his family’s farm to the association. The association honored Brady by naming the property “Brady Showgrounds.”
“He wanted the farm to be a memorial to his family,” said Dennis Ficken, president of the MRSVEA. “He was most interested in seeing the land maintained as a farmstead and used by the community in which his family spent their entire life.”
Show gives future generations a living history of steam power
By Bill Clark
Columbia Daily Tribune
September 3, 2008
In 1964, a group of 34 Central Missourians gathered to form the Missouri River Valley Steam Association, taking a huge step toward the preservation of our past and leaving future generations a living history of the days when steam powered our nation.
Brady House Tour
A series of articles written by Betty Bruns for the MRVSEA Monthly Newsletter
Since most of our members are too busy during our show to tour the Brady House, it seemed a good idea to do a tour in the Newsletter. It may encourage you to try to tour it this year. We talk about each room as we guide a tour through. We could use more people to help as tour guides. The house is the oldest exhibit on our grounds. -Betty Bruns
A Story About Steam Engines
As told by Stanley E. Perry, MRVSEA Charter Member
MRVSEA MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
January 19, 2009
Our dad, Ed Perry, was a steam engine man and he had a sawmill and a threshing machine that he pulled around through the country. The sawmill was pretty much set, that is, it was more stationary. The main power for all that back at that time up through the fabulous 30’s was steam power. Us kids got indoctrinated thoroughly about the use of steam. When we were just about 10 years old, dad had us putting wood in the fire boxes of the steam engine and keeping steam up while he was back there minding the separator, which was a full time job.
The Friedrich Collection
(Skip to 4:05 timestamp for parade videos.)
Ferdinand W. (F.W.) Friedrich and son Elmer Friedrich opened a truck and farm equipment servicing business on Sixth Street in Boonville, MO, in the 1933 timeframe. By 1950 they were a farm equipment dealer with substantial success due to the great value and popularity of their Allis Chalmers equipment mainline. Over the years and in the course of doing business, Elmer Friedrich acquired a variety of 1930-vintage tractors, which were stored for future restoration. After Elmer’s passing in January 2002, his son, Gary, embarked on a project to restore seven of the tractors to operating condition, at a rate of one-per-year. Restorations were accomplished by Mr. Bill Montgomery of Columbia, MO. Gary first exhibited at the Missouri River Valley Steam Engine Association’s 2005 annual show. An Allis Chalmers Model E was first to be exhibited and paraded. Since then, a Twin City 27-44, an Allis WC, two Allis UC’s, an Allis model M dozer, and Allis model I-60 forklift have been added to the annual MRVSEA exhibits. Included in annual exhibits is the 1964 C-20 Chevy pickup used by Friedrich Implement Co., Inc., mechanics to make on-the-farm service calls during the 1960s and 1970s. To round out the MRVSEA annual Friedrich exhibit, in September 2016, the Friedrichs brought a never previously displayed Allis Chalmers/Friedrich Implement Company illuminated outdoor advertising sign.