Deere was born in Rutland, Vt. He became a blacksmith's apprentice at the age of 17. In 1836, he opened a blacksmith shop in Grand Detour, Illinois. He soon learned that nearby farmers were dissatisfied with their plows. The heavy, gummy prairie sod stuck to the rough surface of the wood or iron moldboard that was used to turn the soil.
Deere built a smooth, hard moldboard out of an old circular steel saw in 1837. The new moldboard worked just as he had hoped. The soil fell away cleanly in furrows and polished the surface of the moldboard as it turned. Deere and a partner, Leonard Andruss, began making quantities of steel plows. Within 10 years, they were producing 1,000 plows annually. In 1847, Deere sold his interests to Andruss and started a new company in Moline, Illinois. To improve the quality of his plows, Deere ordered a special type of hard steel from England. He then had a similar type of steel made in Pittsburgh. This project resulted in the first plow steel ever manufactured in the United States. By 1857, Deere was producing 10,000 plows a year. The business was incorporated as Deere and Company in 1868. Today the company ranks as one of the largest industrial corporations in the United States.
