John Deere

Deere apprenticed as a blacksmith in Vermont and worked there for about a decade before heading west. That hands-on metalworking experience, and his habit of listening to customers' field problems, shaped the steel plow and the company's lasting focus on durable, practical equipment.

John Deere (1804-1886) was a Vermont-born blacksmith who moved to Grand Detour, Illinois, in 1836. In 1837 he built a polished steel plow that scoured itself clean in sticky prairie soil, solving a problem that slowed Midwest farmers using cast-iron plows. He moved the business to Moline in 1848, emphasized consistent quality, and handed day-to-day leadership to his son Charles, who incorporated Deere & Company in 1868 and built its branch and dealer system.

Education: Middlebury College. John Deere was born in 1804.