John Deere was born on February 7th, 1804, the third son of William Rinold Deere and Sarah Yates Deere. It is presumed that Sarah gave birth to John at home over William Deere’s Rutland tailor shop on the east side of Main St. across from the park. In 1805, the family moved to Middlebury, Vermont, where at age 17 he learned the blacksmith trade as an apprentice. When hard times hit the region in the 1830s, Deere decided to leave his wife and family temporarily and venture west. In 1836, Deere moved to Grand Detour, Illinois, where in 1837 he built the world’s first steel moldboard plow, "The Plow that Tamed The West."

Photo: Bruce InCharlotte

Photo: Kevin Craft

Rutland, Vermont · USA