THE JOHN DEERE STORY: A Biography of Plowmakers John and Charles Deere

Dahlstrom, Jeremy

ISBN 10: 0875803369 / ISBN 13: 9780875803364

Published by Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb, Illinois, 2005

About this Item

First edition, hardcover. Tan cloth with metallic green titles on spine. xix,204 pages. Table of Contents. Acknowledgments. Introduction by David Vaught. B&W illustrations. Appendix-Time Line. Notes. Works Cited. Index. Near fine with head of spine lightly bumped and foxing to edges of text block, in a fine, mylar-covered dust jacket. SIGNED (signature only) and dated 12/3/05 by Neil Dahlstrom on the title page.

Seller Inventory # 138810

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE JOHN DEERE STORY: A Biography of Plowmakers John and Charles Deere
• Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb, Illinois
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0875803369
• ISBN 13: 9780875803364
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Today, John Deere is remembered as the inventor of the steel plow. Who was this legendary man and how did he create the internationally renowned company that still bears his name? He began as a debt-stricken blacksmith who, fleeing debt in New England in the 1830s, set up shop in a little town on the Illinois frontier. There, in response to farmers' struggles, he designed a new plow that cut through the impervious prairie sod and lay open the rich, heavy soil for planting. The demand for his polished steel plow convinced him to specialize in farm implements.
In the decades before the Civil War, John Deere envisioned a company supplying midwestern farmers with reliable, affordable equipment. He used only high quality, imported steel and resisted pressure to raise prices. At the same time, he won respectful affection from his employees by working alongside them on the shop floor. Upon taking the helm in the 1860s, John's only surviving son, Charles, expanded the Moline factories to increase production, started sales branch in major midwestern cities to speed distribution, and began to transform the company into a modern corporation. The transformation didn't come without difficulties however: Charles found himself battling the Grange, facing threats of labor unions and strikes led by his own employees, and enduring patent suits and blatant thefts of product designs and advertising.

About the Author

Brothers Neil Dahlstrom and Jeremy Dahlstrom tell this engaging, inspirational story of John and Charles Deere, shedding light on the two men as business partners and as a devoted father-and-son team. Historian David Vaught provides an introduction describing the role that Deere & Company played in the industrialization of American agriculture.