In 1837, a young blacksmith in Vermont watched his business collapse. He couldn’t pay his creditors. And back then, that meant one terrifying fate: debtor’s prison.
Facing the grim threat of jail, he made a bold decision—he packed up his tools and family and headed west to Illinois, seeking opportunity and a fresh start.
The land there was fertile, but tough. Farmers struggled with the heavy, sticky prairie soil that clogged and broke their cast-iron plows.
But this blacksmith saw what others didn’t. He envisioned a plow made of polished steel—one that could cut through the earth effortlessly. So he built it.
The steel plow changed everything. By the 1850s, he was producing over 10,000 plows a year, each one helping farmers tame the wild Midwest soil. His company would grow into a global name.
And the man who once fled his hometown in financial ruin? We remember him every time we see his legacy rolling across a field.
His name was John Deere. And now you know why it’s true:
“Nothing runs like a Deere.”