Rick Trahan poses outside a replica of the blacksmith shop in which John Deere created a plow that revolutionized farming. (Jay Jones/Chicago Tribune )
The blacksmith shop in Grand Detour is an exact replica of the one in which John Deere worked 180 years ago. Archaeologists who excavated the site more than 50 years ago determined the layout of Deere’s original building. (Jay Jones/Chicago Tribune )
Visitors to the John Deere Historic Site watch as blacksmith Rick Trahan works with molten steel in the same way John Deere did in 1837. (Jay Jones/Chicago Tribune )
