A Passion for Improvement
By 1855, John was selling 10,000 plows a year. He also laid the foundation for further success by insisting on quality, along with constantly improving and changing his products.
A nationwide financial panic occurred in 1858 and forced changes within the company. John Deere remained as president, but his son Charles assumed daily management. A year later, Charles took full control of the company at age 21, and ran it successfully for the next 49 years.
In 1863 John Deere introduced the Hawkeye Riding Cultivator, the first farm implement that an operator actually rode upon.
Deere & Company was finally incorporated in 1868, thus ending a 31-year period of partnerships or sole proprietorship operation. Charles and John controlled 65 percent of the company stock under the arrangement. Changing customer preferences and economic trends were used to adjust manufacturing output, and the first branch office--Deere, Mansur & Company--opened in Kansas City.
The famous leaping deer trademark appeared in 1876. Corn planters appeared a year later, with wagons and buggies added to the lineup by 1880. John Deere's best seller remained the walking plow, with the Gilpin sulky (riding plow), cultivators, shovel plows, and harrow sales following in large numbers.
John Deere died at 82, after spending his later years involved in banking and community interests.
Charles Deere's son-in-law joined the company in 1892, at the beginning of the bicycle craze. Three Deere cycle models were produced and were somewhat popular. John Deere produced bicycles again briefly in 1976.
The agricultural business heated up in 1902, with the combination of three established manufacturers merging to form International Harvester. In order to remain competitive, John Deere expanded its product line to include wagons, spreaders, and engines. Charles Deere passed away in 1907, and his son-in-law, William Butterworth, became the new CEO.
William launched a major reorganization of the company, paying attention to unification and employee needs. A modern pension plan, as well as employee housing was initiated. By 1912, the company consisted of eleven manufacturing plants and 25 sales organizations, and was listed with the New York Stock Exchange.
Tractor Wars
Gasoline tractors appeared on the scene, with Ford taking the lead. John Deere began experimenting with its version, but couldn't decide which model to produce. A full 24 months passed before John Deere chose to purchase an established tractor manufacturer, Waterloo Boy, instead of producing its own version. Almost 6,000 John Deere tractors were sold in 1918, a trickle in the new market.
In 1923 John Deere launched its Deere Model D--its first steel-wheeled tractor platform carrying the John Deere brand. The two-cylinder, gas-powered unit stayed in production for thirty years. International Harvester raised the bar in 1924 with its launch of the Farmall tractor. The Farmall was a radical departure from the traditional tractors of the time. Its rear wheels were set wide apart, and the front wheels were mounted closer together. Row crop cultivation was the goal, and John Deere answered with its General Purpose (GP) tractor in 1925. In 1929 the GP Wide-Tread tractor debuted, utilizing a tricycle front-wheel assembly in order to operate between two crop rows.
At the beginning of the Depression, only seven full-line farm implement manufacturers were in production, including John Deere. The market crisis caused the company to lose $8.7 million in 1933. But the company bounced back and launched its Model A and Model B series tractors in 1934 and 1935. Both units remained in production until 1952 and are recognized as the most popular tractors in the company's history. In 1935 John Deere inked a unique co-op deal with Caterpillar to sell each other's products. The agreement lasted until the 1960s with mild success.