John Deere

John Deere was born in 1804 in Rutland, Vermont and was raised solely by his mother. As a young man, he won acclaim for his workmanship and ingenuity as a blacksmith. In 1836, he followed other Vermonters to Illinois, where he established a blacksmith shop in Grand Detour.

Shortly after arriving, Deere learned from his farmer customers that the commonly used cast-iron plows of the day performed poorly in the sticky soil of the Midwest prairie. Soil clung to the plow bottoms, and farmers had to stop and scrape off the dirt every few feet.

Convinced that a plow with a highly polished surface would shed the sticky soil as it moved through the field, Deere made a plow using steel from a broken sawblade. The need for a self-scouring plow was so great, it is said hundreds of people gathered at the farm of Lewis Crandall near Grand Detour to see the young blacksmith test his new product. It wasn’t long before manufacturing plows became not only Deere’s identity, but his business as well.

In 1848, Deere moved his growing operation to Moline, Illinois, on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The river provided waterpower for running a factory, as well as riverboats for bringing in raw materials and moving plows to market.

Soon, Deere’s company was making 1,000 plows a year. Business boomed as Deere established a reputation for both his plows and his principles; his insistence on selling only high-quality products.

In 1868, Deere’s business was incorporated under the Deere & Company name.

From his arrival in Moline, Deere was actively involved in civic activities, and in 1873 he became the second mayor of Moline.

John Deere died in 1886, with his heirs leading the company for the next century.

1910-1918: Referred to as the birth of the modern Deere & Company, this era was defined by acquisitions, restructuring, and fierce competition. Deere’s boldest moves during this time were entry into harvesting equipment, tractors and engines.

Total employees more than tripled to over 8,500 between 1910 and 1918. By 1928, 50% of company sales came from tractors, engines, and harvesting equipment, none of which John Deere built prior to 1910.