The John Deere Historic Site celebrates its namesake’s invention, 175 years ago, of the self-scouring steel plow. Deere parlayed his blacksmithing skills and ingenuity into a wildly successful business enterprise – a true testament to the power of thinking differently.
In 1837, John Deere, a blacksmith recently transplanted from Vermont, faced a thorny problem as he labored in his Grand Detour shop.
Local farmers told him the horse-drawn plows that worked in the rocky soil of New England wouldn’t work here. They became bogged down in the thicker Midwestern soil.
What was a blacksmith to do?
Deere put his mind to the problem and came up with a solution: reshape the plow blade, and forge a shiny, slippery, steel surface that would prevent soil from sticking to it.
The result was a self-scouring plow that helped tame the Midwestern prairie and became the foundation of a successful company known worldwide for its agricultural tractors and implements, lawn and garden machinery, and other lines of useful products.
All it took was one man willing to think differently.
In Grand Detour this weekend, dozens of blacksmiths will gather for Hammer-In 2012 at the John Deere Historic Site, 8334 S. Clinton St.
They will pay tribute to Deere at noon today when all participating blacksmiths raise their hammers high in the air, then strike their anvils in unison – a tribute that John Deere certainly would have appreciated.
Visitors can view exhibits, participate in a charitable auction, and generally absorb the ambience of Deere’s 19th-century blacksmith shop and restored home – all in tribute to a man who solved a thorny problem with his brain and brawn.
Thinking differently has been on our minds of late.
Earlier this week, an SVM report detailed the region’s slow decline. Our editorial board followed with the view that decline is not inevitable here, if people are willing to address local problems with a different mindset. We then proposed that people read “Boomtown USA” and discuss its entrepreneurial principles.
John Deere’s success is a testament to how one man’s willingness to think differently can make all the difference.
Just imagine what could happen if hundreds of people were willing to do the same.