John Deere (1804–1886) inventor and businessman

Born in Vermont in 1804, Deere’s father was British, and his mother was the daughter of a British army officer who served during the American Revolution. At age 17, Deere became a blacksmith’s apprentice and then worked as a blacksmith until 1837. He moved to Grand Detour, Illinois, where he began designing plows with a partner, Leonard Andruss. His first inventions used steel cut from an old sawmill blade and bent into shape. The invention was much more effective than plows currently in use by farmers, and within 10 years they were selling more than 1,000 per year.

Deere sold his interest in the company to Andruss and started his own business in Moline, Illinois, in 1847, which initially used English steel as its main component because American steel at the time was inferior. He then commissioned the same sort of steel to be made in Pittsburgh to save on costs, and the plow he produced became the first steel plow manufactured in the United States. Within 10 years, he produced more than 10,000 annually. In 1858, Deere took his son Charles H. Deere into partnership and five years later took his son-in-law Stephen Velie in as well. In 1868, the company was incorporated as Deere & Co., with John Deere as president, Charles Deere as vice president, and Velie as secretary. It introduced the first successful riding plow in 1875. John Deere died in Moline in 1886. Charles succeeded him as president of the company.

Charles Deere expanded the company’s distribution as president and also added new lines of Deere products, including corn planters, plows, and harrows. Over the next century, Deere & Co. again added other lines to its product mix, including tractors, lawn care products, forestry equipment, and other types of farm equipment. The company name became a household word in the Midwest, especially after it offered very liberal lines of credit to farmers during the Great Depression so they could remain in business. By 1958, Deere surpassed INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER as the country’s largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment. Five years later it became the largest in the world, selling more than $3.5 billion worth of its products.

Despite its growth, the company remained headed by a family member until the early 1980s. Many of its tractors and plows were painted green, and the color became the company’s hallmark. The name Deere and the image of a green tractor became synonymous with American farm equipment manufacturing.