The "Celebrating 100 Years Of John Deere" Story

One of the original John Deere logos.

It was an ordinary day.  Reading in my latest Reminisce magazine a story titled "Retro Replay - Blast From The Past".  Story tells about John Deere & Company entering the tractor business in 1918 and therefore celebrating 100 years in business.  Quite a milestone for any company.  By now, if you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you probably know I am from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, known as the "Garden Spot of America".  

The home of the New Holland Company.

We here in Lancaster County tell of having some of the most fertile farmland in the United States.  Our local newspaper used the slogan "The Leading Newspaper in the Garden Spot of America" as early as 1919.  Actually it was back in 1702, when a Lutheran pastor who had traveled here, published his observations about our fertile farmland in his book "Nachricht von Pennsylvania" (Accurate Tidings from Pennsylvania).  

The story of John Deere.  Click to enlarge.

So, as you can see, we here in Lancaster know quite a bit about farm land and farm equipment.  We even make one of the best tractors in the world a few miles to the east of Lancaster in the small town known as New Holland.  New Holland Company was producing agricultural products to help the farming community in 1895.  But, I'm sure there are plenty of John Deere tractors plowing the lush fields of Lancaster County.  John Deere Company is located in Waterloo, Iowa.  

Mr. John Deere

They recently sponsored a Gold Key event where customers could watch the final assembly or their newly purchased tractor.  John Deere entered the farm tractor business in March 1918 when they purchased Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company.  And now, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History will make 2018 as the year of the tractor.  The museum's 1918 green, yellow and red Waterloo Boy tractor was installed at the entrance of the business history exhibition.  John Deere also placed iconic tractors on display at the John Deere Tractor & Engine Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, the John Deere Paviion and John Deere World Headquarters in Moline, Illinois as well as the John Deere Forum in Mannheim, Germany.

John Deere plow that made him famous and wealthy.

 As far as the namesake of the tractor, John Deere was an American blacksmith and manufac- turer who was born in Rutland, Vermont and moved to Illinois where he invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837.  He later entered a business partnership with Leonard Andrus and purchased land for the construction of a new, two-story factory along the Rock River in Illinois.  

The more recognizable logo of the John Deere Company.

The factory was named the L. Andrus Plough Manufac- turer and produced about 100 plows in 1842 and around 400 the next year.  Many other partnerships followed until in 1918 he purchased the Waterloo Boy tractor facility and began selling the John Deere Model D tractor.   I remember watching an episode on Made In America, which was broadcast on the Travel Channel, and being told that the John Deere Company never repossessed any John Deere equipment during the Great Depression which was amazing!  

This photograph from the Reminisce Magazine shows the
John Deere Model GP which was manufactured from 1928
to 1935 and marketed as a general purpose machine.

Since its start in 1918 they have added an assortment of farm equipment to their inventory of products.  They now have factories throughout the world and employ 67,000 people worldwide, with about half of those employees in the United States and Canada.  The logo of the leaping deer has been used by this company for over 155 years, but with a few minor changes over the years.  

A more recognizable John Deere tractor.

And, the traditional logo color of green with the inside border being yellow makes the brand easily identifiable.  A year ago Deere & Company signed an agreement to acquire Blue River Technology which, through technology, will allow users of John Deere equipment to reduce the use of herbicides by spraying only where weeds are present.  My congratulations to the green and yellow company for their many years in the agricultural business.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

I just had to put in a photo of the tractor made in Lancaster County, the New Holland tractor.