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John Deere -- Inventor of "The Plow that Broke the Plains"

John Deere -- Inventor of "The Plow that Broke the Plains" is a Vermont historical marker in Middlebury, Addison County.

Addison County · Cannon Park, Middlebury

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Inventor of the plow that broke the plains John Deere learned the blacksmith trade here as an apprentice in the shop of Capt. Benjamin Lawrence from 1821 to 1825. The shop was located below this spot on Mill Street, in what is known as Frog Hollow. In 1836 Deere removed to Grand Detour, Illinois where, in 1837, he built the worlds first steel moldboard plow.

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Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Marker data: Vermont Division for Historic Preservation

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