In 1837, a young blacksmith in Vermont watched his business fall apart.
He couldn’t pay his creditors.
And back then, that meant one frightening word: debtor’s prison.
Faced with the grim threat of jail, he made a daring decision—
He packed his tools and family and headed west to Illinois, chasing opportunity and a fresh start.
The land was fertile…but tough.
Farmers struggled with heavy, sticky prairie soil that clogged and broke their cast-iron plows.
But this blacksmith saw what others didn’t.
He pictured a plow made of polished steel—one that could slice through the earth smoothly and easily.
So he built it.
And the steel plow changed everything.
By the 1850s, he was making over 10,000 plows a year—each one helping farmers conquer the wild Midwest soil.
His company would grow into a global name.
And the man who had once fled his hometown in financial ruin?
We still 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.”
