David, Greg, and Bob Hawley were not archaeologists. They ran a refrigeration repair business in Kansas City. But the brothers shared an obsession with lost steamboats, sparked when they excavated the engine of the Missouri Packet in 1987, the first steamboat to sink in the Missouri River back in 1820. That engine, which David Hawley believes is the oldest extant maritime steam engine in the United States, yielded few other artifacts but ignited something unstoppable. Partnering with Jerry Mackey, a restaurant owner from Independence, and David Lutrell from the construction industry, the Hawleys formed River Salvage Inc. and set their sights on the Arabia. With the landowner's permission, they dug between November 1988 and February 1989, expecting to find treasure they could sell. What they found changed their plans entirely.

The Arabia's cargo was destined for 16 towns on the American frontier, and the sheer volume of what emerged from that cornfield staggered everyone involved. More than 4,000 boots and shoes. 247 hats. 235 ax heads. 328 pocket knives. A single children's doll, known as a Frozen Charlotte. These were not relics weathered by time but brand-new merchandise, preserved in river mud as if sealed in a vault. The collection represents hundreds of thousands of items intended for daily life on the frontier, the largest single collection of pre-Civil War artifacts in the world. The Hawleys abandoned their plan to sell the finds. Instead, they opened the 30,000-square-foot Arabia Steamboat Museum in Kansas City's River Market on November 13, 1991.

The museum remained a family affair from the beginning. Bob and Florence Hawley, the parents, worked alongside their sons David and Greg. Visitors could often find a Hawley greeting them at the door, answering questions with the enthusiasm of people who had pulled history from the earth with their own hands. The family endured profound loss along the way. Greg was killed by a street racing driver in 2009. Bob died in 2019. Florence followed in 2021. David has continued the operation alone, drawing more than 80,000 visitors per year. US News & World Report ranked the museum number one on its list of "Best Things To Do in Kansas City."

The Arabia Steamboat Museum's lease in Kansas City, located seven miles from the actual wreck site, expires in 2026. Plans to relocate and expand have evolved over the years. In 2019, a proposal to move to Jefferson City, about 140 miles from the wreck, was explored. In 2021, plans emerged to create a National Steamboat Museum at Marshall Junction, Missouri, about 77 miles from the Arabia's resting place, with ambitions to excavate five additional steamboats. The Marshall-Saline Development Corporation funded a $150,000 feasibility study. On November 13, 2025, exactly 34 years after opening day, the museum announced it would close permanently in November 2026. What began as a treasure hunt in a cornfield became one of the most remarkable archaeological stories in American history.