| JOHN DEERE | | | | year. Many years later in 1911, the company |
| GO WEST YOUNGMAN | | | | purchased the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine |
| THE BLACKSMITH | | | | Company and tractors were added to production |
| MASS APPEAL | | | | line. By 1955 they were the |
| NOTHING RUNS LIKE A DEERE | | | | leading producer of farm equipment in the world. |
| COMMITMENT | | | | Today, the company has become globally |
| LEGENDARY | | | | renowned with net sales exceeding |
| LEAPING FORWARD | | | | $640 million dollars.COMMITMENTConstant |
| THE CLASSIC"I will never put my name on a | | | | research and development has always been key |
| product that does not have in it the best that is in | | | | to the John Deere company, as Deere himself |
| me." - John DeereJOHN DEEREIn 1962, a | | | | once said, "They haven't got to take what we |
| University of Illinois archaeological team unearthed | | | | make and somebody else will beat us, and we will |
| the exact location of the blacksmith shop where | | | | lose our trade." To this day, the company spends |
| John Deere | | | | more on research and development than most |
| developed the first successful steel plow in 1837. | | | | other companies in its |
| The site is now preserved by an exhibit hall | | | | industry.LEGENDARYFebruary 7, 2004 marked |
| complete with a simulated | | | | the 200th birthday of John Deere, the man. His |
| conversation between John and Demarius Deere | | | | one man blacksmith shop in 1836 has spawned |
| talking about their every events on the farm and | | | | one of the most celebrated equipment |
| his development of the | | | | manufacturing companies in the world.LEAPING |
| self-polishing steel plow that eventually opened | | | | FORWARDThe famous leaping deer logo has |
| the prairie to agriculture.GO WEST YOUNG | | | | gone through several changes over the years. |
| MANAs a young journeyman blacksmith in | | | | Deere first registered it for use in 1876, it read |
| Middlebury, Vermont, John Deere soon gained | | | | "John Deere - Moline, Illinois". Interestingly, the first |
| fame for his considerable workmanship and | | | | deer to appear on the logo was an African deer |
| ingenuity. It was a golden age of the burgeoning | | | | and not the American white tail used today. Over |
| pioneer and John headed west to join the | | | | the years the wording changed and the deer was |
| adventure. It took him many weeks | | | | simplified into line art versus the illustration style |
| by canal boat, lake boat and stagecoach to reach | | | | of the original. Eventually the deer as the only |
| Grand Detour, Illinois - a journey of more than a | | | | thing on the logo and it simply read, "John Deere". |
| thousand miles that could | | | | The clean cut 1968 version was updated in 200 |
| easily be accomplished in 16 hours by car | | | | with the deer leaping up and forward rather than |
| today.BLACKSMITHThe cast iron plows the | | | | down and forward. The famous green and yellow |
| pioneers used were designed for sandy New | | | | leaping deer logo that you can get now at has |
| England and proved no match for the rich | | | | become a hip and modern symbol of John |
| Midwestern soil. | | | | Deere's and Americans' ingenuity and integrity.THE |
| So Deere decided to come up with something | | | | CLASSICThe John Deere Classic, a charitable golf |
| better, he took an old steel saw blade and made | | | | tournament is played on a course built in the |
| a plow with a properly shaped | | | | Friendship Farm in Illinois. For many years the |
| moldboard and share that scoured itself as it | | | | farm had been one of the top Arabian horse |
| turned the furrow slice, basically it was a | | | | breeding operations in the United States and the |
| self-cleaning plow blade that made | | | | property still maintains a natural beauty to this |
| the hard work fast.MASS APPEALIn his day it | | | | day. In 2003, $1.5 million dollars was donated to |
| was common practice for blacksmiths to build | | | | more than 400 charities to benefit children, |
| tools as customers ordered them, however | | | | families and handicapped individuals. This is just |
| seeing the future as it | | | | one of the many reasons that John Deere was |
| was, Deere decided to start hammering out the | | | | named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens |
| new plows without orders. It was an entirely new | | | | for 2002 by Business Ethics magazine.To read |
| way of doing business and made | | | | more articles by Chad, visit the American Pop |
| John Deere a very popular man.NOTHING RUNS | | | | Culture Encyclopedia at: American Pop Culture |
| LIKE A DEERTen years after he developed his | | | | Encyclopedia. |
| first plow, Deere was producing a 1000 plows a | | | | |