The wartime ammunition plant that became a John Deere factory — and helped turn Ankeny into a city.
By 1942 the federal government had built an ordnance plant to manufacture ammunition on the site northeast of Ankeny. After the war, John Deere purchased the plant in October 1947, and production of corn pickers began in February 1948 with 570 employees.
As the factory grew, so did Ankeny: the town's population climbed rapidly around the plant, transforming a small railroad stop into a manufacturing community.
John Deere Des Moines Works is a facility of Deere & Company (NYSE: DE), a public company; site-level financials are not separately disclosed.
The arrival of John Deere in 1947 was a turning point for Ankeny, bringing hundreds and then thousands of manufacturing jobs and fueling the city's growth from a farm town into a thriving Des Moines suburb. The Des Moines Works remains one of Ankeny's cornerstone employers.
The John Deere Des Moines Works is based in Ankeny, Iowa. A major John Deere manufacturing campus and one of Ankeny's largest employers
1947.
Curious about your own family's story? We trace it through the public record and write it up as a documented history.
See how it works →This profile presents only publicly reported facts, drawn from the sources above. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the family or its companies.