{"nrhp_refnum":"66000327","name":"Deere, John, House and Shop","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Illinois and Clinton Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Grand Detour","county":"Ogle County","state":"IL","lat":41.89613470200004,"lon":-89.41604880899996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1964-07-19","areas_of_significance":["Invention","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic site of about 4 acres at Illinois and Clinton Streets in Grand Detour, Ogle County, Illinois, centered on the house John Deere occupied from 1836 to 1847 and the site of his original blacksmith shop. The house was probably first built in 1836 and is owned by the John Deere Foundation.","why_significant":"This is where John Deere settled in 1836 and made his first plow in 1837, which scoured the sticky prairie soil cleanly. The plow made intensive farming of the old Northwest possible. Deere worked here until 1847, then moved to Moline, where his company grew into a leading farm implement maker.","narrative":"John Deere came to Grand Detour, Illinois, in 1836 and set up a blacksmith shop in the village founded by Leonard Andrus. He built a small house here, probably in 1836, and added to it until he left in 1847. In 1837 he made his first plow, whose steel share and polished moldboard cleared the sticky prairie soil that clogged other plows. This made intensive cultivation possible across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. By 1843 the firm of Andrus and Deere was producing 400 plows a year. Deere then moved to Moline for better transportation and water power. The roughly four-acre site now includes the clapboarded frame house, the excavated site of the original shop, a reconstructed blacksmith shop and the neighboring Dana House of 1843, used as a visitor center. Katherine Deere Butterworth, his granddaughter, bought the property in 1919, and it later passed to the John Deere Foundation, which restored it.","period_of_significance":"1836-1847","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Restored and maintained as a museum and historic site by the John Deere Foundation; condition listed as excellent, occupied and open to the public.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.268116-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/8916/28891626/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/66000327_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000327/8269ce5ed6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000327/8269ce5ed6-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.5","author":"IvoShandor","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Deere_House11.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">IvoShandor</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Deere_House11.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891626","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Deere_House_and_Shop","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14687681"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/ogle-county/deere-john-house-and-shop-66000327/"}