Union Malleable Iron Company

For three-fourths of a century the Union Malleable Iron Works of East Moline, Illinois, helped to make the name of John Deere synonymous with farm implement quality in the minds of millions of farmers. Although it did not make complete implements, its products helped to sow, cultivate, and harvest crops in every part of the United States and agricultural Canada.

It furnished malleable castings, pearlitic castings, and white iron castings to almost all the other John Deere factories. In this function it also assisted the Vermilion Malleable Iron Works in Hoopestown, Illinois, which Deere & Company purchased in 1946.

The Union Malleable Iron Works was founded in 1872, three years after malleable iron first had been made in Moline, for the express purpose of furnishing castings to Deere & Company. Charles Deere, son of John Deere (and at that time Vice President of Deere & Company), was one of the organizers. A plant was erected in Moline, where the company remained until the turn of the century when it was moved to East Moline. An entirely separate corporation until 1911, it was purchased by Deere & Company in the merger of that year. In 1951, the name was changed to John Deere Malleable Works until its operations were consolidated into the John Deere Foundry on November 1, 1968.

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