Since its founding in 1837, John Deere has seen a great many changes in its business, its products,

its services. Change always comes with opportunity. And Deere has always been ready and willing to embrace it. Yet, through it all, John Deere is still dedicated to those who are linked to the land farmers and ranchers, landowners, builders, and loggers. And Deere has never outgrown, nor forgotten, its founder's original core values. Those values determine the way we work, the quality we offer, and the unsurpassed treatment you get as a customer, investor, employee. History of Deer & Co. Deere & Company began in 1836 when thirty-two year old John Deere moved to Grand Detour, Illinois. Already an established blacksmith, Deere opened a 1,378 square feet shop in Grand Detour in 1837 which allowed him to serve as a general repairman in the village, as well as a manufacturer of small tools such as pitchforks and shovels. 1837 John Deere develops the steel walking plow. Plows had evolved for thousands of years and worked well in soil previously farmed. Plowing the Illinois prairie for the first time was hampered by soil that stuck to the plow. John Deere curved a broken steel sawmill blade that let the soil slide off the

plow. Animal-drawn plows were the heart of John Deere business for the next eight decades. The smooth sided steel plow solved this problem, and would greatly aid migration into the American Great Plains in the 19th century and early 20th century. Deere's production of plows began slowly, but increased greatly when he departed from the traditional business model of making equipment as it was ordered and instead began to manufacture plows before they were ordered and then put them up for sale. This allowed customers to see what they were buying beforehand, and word of the product began to spread quickly. In 1843, Deere 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. This factory, named the "L. Andrus Plough Manufactory", produced about 100 plows in 1842 and approximately 400 plows during the next year. Despite the success, Deere's partnership with Andrus ended in 1848, when Deere relocated to Moline, Illinois in order to have access to the railroad and the Mississippi River. In Moline, Deere formed a partnership with Robert Tate and John Gould and quickly built a new 1,440 square feet factory in 1848. Production at the plant rose quickly, and by 1849 the Deere, Tate, & Gould

Company was producing over 200 plows a month, and a two story addition to the plant was built to allow for further production In 1843, John Deere and Leonard Andrus become partners with the agreement that the factory in Grand Detour will be known as L. ANDRUS. The two-story factory builds plows until 1848, when John Deere dissolves the partnership and moves to Moline