Born in Rutland, Vermont, Deere moved to Illinois and invented the first commercially successful steel plow in 1837.

[12] In 1836, Deere left Vermont due to hard times and followed Leonard Andrus, a business associate, to Illinois.

[14] Deere found that cast-iron plows were not working very well in the tough prairie soil of Illinois and remembered the needles he had previously polished by running them through sand as he grew up in his father's tailor shop in Rutland.

In one version, he recalled the way the polished steel pitchfork tines moved through hay and soil and thought that same effect could be obtained for a plow.

[8] In 1843, Deere partnered with Leonard Andrus to produce more plows to keep up with demand, but the partnership became strained due to the two men's stubbornness.

[16] In 1848, Deere dissolved the partnership with Andrus and moved to Moline, Illinois, because the city was a transportation hub on the Mississippi River.

"[19] Following the Panic of 1857, as business improved, Deere left the day-to-day operations to his son Charles.