John Deere Moline HQ: Saarinen Offices & Benefits

THE HEADQUARTERS · ONE JOHN DEERE PLACE, MOLINE

COR-TEN steel, glass and ponds, designed to sink into the land

Eero Saarinen and chairman William Hewitt wanted a headquarters that was “modern in concept, but at the same time, down to earth and rugged.” Opened in 1964, the COR-TEN steel and glass buildings sit among ponds, woods and rolling landscape. Sunlit workspaces, movable steel partitions and a cafeteria overlooking the pond were planned around the people inside, along with an auditorium with translation booths and a revolving stage and Alexander Girard's three-dimensional mural “Reflections of an Era”. A geothermal modernization now underway will create an all-electric central plant.

Opened 1964
Architect: Eero Saarinen
COR-TEN steel and glass
Cafeteria over the pond
Alexander Girard mural
Not open to the public

Rusted steel among the trees

Saarinen and Hewitt chose COR-TEN steel and glass and designed the campus to blend into the land around it, keeping daily life close to the landscape.

Stepped steel building behind trees on a slope — Stepped into the hillside · Casey Renner / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Looking through steel columns to a courtyard and sculpture — The courtyard · Casey Renner / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Tall steel facade above a lawn — The tower block · Casey Renner / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Steel columns and sunshades close up — Steel detail · Casey Renner / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Low building with layered steel sunshades behind bare trees — In early spring · dwhartwig / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Glass pavilion framed in dark steel beside a lawn — A glass pavilion · dwhartwig / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Ponds and lawns

The campus was shaped to keep daily life connected to the landscape; the historic cooling pond will now help heat and cool the building.

Pond reflecting the headquarters and bare trees — The cooling pond · dwhartwig / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Fountain in a pond in front of the steel building — The fountain · Casey Renner / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Lake with willows and the building beyond — Spring willows · dwhartwig / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Wide plaza with flags in front of a low steel building — The entrance plaza · dwhartwig / CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Facts: deere.com, “Designing the Next 100 Years at Deere’s Headquarters” (Feb 12, 2026) and History and Heritage

The Saarinen campus in Moline

Building	Address
World headquarters	One John Deere Place, Moline, IL 61265

Source: Form 10-K 2025 cover · See them on the map ↓

ArchitectEero Saarinen

Opened1964

MaterialsCOR-TEN steel, glass

Mural“Reflections of an Era”, Alexander Girard

Upgrade276 geothermal borings × 600 ft

Expected savings−55% energy, −24% carbon

Source: deere.com, “Designing the Next 100 Years at Deere’s Headquarters” (Feb 12, 2026)

Benefits (United States)

HealthMedical, dental, vision

Plans for eligible full-time employees in the U.S.

RetirementSavings plans

Savings and retirement plans.

Parental leavePaid

Parental leave and paid time off.

Mental healthServices

Mental health and wellness services.

IncentivesCash + equity

Short-term cash incentives and long-term equity incentives for eligible employees.

LearningUpskilling

Upskill training, career planning and leadership development.

Source: Form 10-K 2025, Compensation and Benefits

Why people stay: what Deere itself reports

UpskillingTraining for what's next

Upskill training, career planning and leadership development, from robotics and automation to equipment assembly.

EquityLong-term incentives

Eligible employees earn short-term cash incentives and long-term equity-based incentives on top of base pay.

≈ 77%Union-represented U.S. production

About 7,600 U.S. production and maintenance workers are covered by a UAW agreement running to November 2027.

Since 1837One company, one name

From a blacksmith's steel plow to tractors, construction and forestry machines.

Source: Form 10-K 2025, Human Capital · deere.com, History and Heritage

Who works here

≈ 73,100

employees (Nov 2, 2025)

≈ 32,500

full-time production employees

27,000

in the U.S.

≈ 77%

of U.S. production staff union-represented

Source: Form 10-K 2025, Human Capital

Pay at John Deere

Median employee · total compensation, fiscal 2025$147,019

A full-time hourly employee in the U.S. The CEO earned about 190 times this amount.

Source: Proxy statement 2026 (CEO pay ratio)

Pay by ageNot published

Deere doesn't publish pay by age.

Office history: from a blacksmith shop to a Saarinen landmark

1837
A steel plow in Grand Detour
Blacksmith John Deere built a plow with a moldboard made from a broken steel saw blade near Grand Detour, Illinois. It shed the sticky prairie soil that clogged wood and iron plows; he built 10 more in 1839.
Source: deere.com, History and Heritage

John Deere House and Shop, Grand Detour · Teemu008 / CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
1843
Into the plow business
An agreement with local businessman Leonard Andrus put Deere firmly into the plow business.
Source: deere.com, History and Heritage

No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it.
1848
Moline
Deere, Tate and Gould formed a partnership and moved to Moline, Illinois. A new factory started in 1849 and production doubled in its first year.
Source: deere.com, History and Heritage

No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it.
1964
The Saarinen headquarters
The world headquarters designed by Eero Saarinen opened in Moline, with COR-TEN steel and glass set into ponds and rolling land. It is not open to the public.
Source: deere.com, History and Heritage · “Designing the Next 100 Years at Deere’s Headquarters”

The headquarters in the 1960s (Balthazar Korab) · Balthazar Korab / Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
2026
Geothermal for the next century
A geothermal modernization with 276 borings, each 600 feet deep, is creating an all-electric central plant expected to cut energy use by 55% and carbon emissions by 24%; even the historic cooling pond will support the system.
Source: deere.com, Feb 12, 2026

No free-to-use photo found yet.Have one? We’d love to add it.

Map: how the headquarters moved

From Grand Detour on the Rock River to Moline on the Mississippi, about 110 km apart.

Loading map…

1 · 1837Grand Detour, Illinois — John Deere's blacksmith shop (now the John Deere Historic Site)
2 · 1848Moline, Illinois — The business moves to Moline
3 · 1964One John Deere Place, Moline — World headquarters today

Places: deere.com, History and Heritage · Form 10-K 2025 · Locations: OpenStreetMap

What John Deere does

Deere makes agricultural, turf, construction and forestry machinery and engines, and finances the equipment through John Deere Financial.

Four segments: Production & Precision Agriculture, Small Agriculture & Turf, Construction & Forestry, and Financial Services.

Net sales and revenues, FY2025$45.7Bdown from $51.7B in FY2024

Employees≈ 73,100Nov 2, 2025

Revenue per employee$0.62M$45.7B ÷ 73,100

Source: SEC XBRL data from Deere's 10-K · Form 10-K 2025 · per-employee figure calculated by eciffo

Growth: revenue vs. people

1.7×net sales and revenues, FY2016 → FY2025
$26.6B → $45.7B

1.3×employees, same years
≈ 56,800 → ≈ 73,100

YearRevenueEmployees

FY2016

$26.6B

56,800

FY2017

$29.7B

60,500

FY2018

$37.4B

74,000

FY2019

$39.3B

73,500

FY2020

$35.5B

69,600

FY2021

$44.0B

75,600

FY2022

$52.6B

82,200

FY2023

$61.3B

83,000

FY2024

$51.7B

75,800

FY2025

$45.7B

73,100

Fiscal years (ending around November 1). Revenues: SEC XBRL data from Deere's 10-K filings. Employees: Form 10-K (approximate, at fiscal year-end). Multiples calculated by eciffo.

Chief executives

No free-to-use photo.

today

John C. May

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

John Deere, a blacksmith, built his first steel plow in Grand Detour, Illinois, in 1837.

Source: Proxy statement 2026 · deere.com, History and Heritage

John Deere: questions people ask

Where is John Deere's headquarters?

At One John Deere Place, Moline, Illinois 61265.

Source: Form 10-K 2025

Who designed the John Deere World Headquarters?

Eero Saarinen, working with chairman William Hewitt. It opened in 1964.

Source: deere.com, History and Heritage and HQ article

Can you visit the John Deere headquarters?

The headquarters isn't open to the public; Deere points visitors to its other sites, such as the John Deere Historic Site in Grand Detour.

Source: deere.com, History and Heritage

What is the building made of?

COR-TEN steel and glass, set among ponds and rolling landscape; inside are sunlit workspaces, movable steel partitions and a cafeteria overlooking the pond.

Source: deere.com, HQ article (Feb 12, 2026)

What is changing at the headquarters?

A geothermal modernization with 276 borings 600 feet deep is creating an all-electric central plant, expected to cut energy use 55% and carbon emissions 24%.

Source: deere.com, HQ article (Feb 12, 2026)

Where did John Deere start?

In Grand Detour, Illinois, where blacksmith John Deere built a steel plow in 1837. The business moved to Moline in 1848.

Source: deere.com, History and Heritage

How many people work at Deere?

About 73,100 at November 2, 2025, including about 32,500 full-time production employees; 27,000 work in the U.S.

Source: Form 10-K 2025

How much do Deere employees make?

The median employee — a full-time hourly worker in the U.S. — earned total compensation of $147,019 in fiscal 2025; the CEO earned about 190 times that.

Source: Proxy statement 2026

John Deere Headquarters & offices · Moline, Illinois

Eero Saarinen's rusted-steel headquarters among ponds and woods, now getting 276 geothermal wells for its next century.