WATERLOO -- Waterloo has never had another company the likes of John Deere. On Saturday, Deere will throw a celebration the likes of which Waterloo has never seen.

That's when Deere is celebrating the 90th anniversary of its coming to Waterloo. A daylong celebration will be held on multiple sites, taking up much of the west side of downtown.

Bands, company exhibitions, children's activities, food vendors and more than 60 antique John Deere tractors and new products will be displayed across four adjoining city blocks and surrounding streets.

Company officials hesitated to speculate on turnout, but noted there are 11,000 Deere employees and retirees in the surrounding area, plus family members, and anyone else who's taken a fancy to John Deere green. The public is welcome.

"This is not just a celebration about John Deere but about Iowa people and communities too," said Dave Rodger, general manager of John Deere's Waterloo operations.

The company already has given the Cedar Valley a pair of anniversary presents this year. In August, Deere announced it is adding 103,000 square feet to its drive-train operation in Waterloo as part of a new $97 million plan to further increase tractor production. That was in addition to $90 million the Moline, Ill.-based company announced in February it was investing here.

Add in the massive $140 million redevelopment of Deere's Westfield Avenue and East Donald Street facilities since 2000, plus a $17 million donation of land, buildings and cash in 2007 for the creation of the Cedar Valley TechWorks, and that means Deere has invested more than $300 million in the Cedar Valley this decade.

Not bad for an initial investment of $2.35 million -- the price Deere paid for the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co., maker of the "Waterloo Boy" two-cylinder tractors, on March 14, 1918.

Saturday's party is not all about dollar figures, but about the people of the Cedar Valley, Rodger said.

"While much discussion lately has been about our continued investment in the Waterloo operations, we also understand that we have received much from the Cedar Valley over the years," he said. "Our tractor business was born here and grew here. We appreciate the energy, innovation and hard work from everyone that contributed to the great business we have today."

Deere's Waterloo-made large row-crop tractors have figured heavily in Deere's record-tying five consecutive years of record earnings. The company is anticipated to break $2 billion in earnings for the first time when its current fiscal year ends on Oct. 31.

The celebration

Saturday's activities, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., will be centered on The Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center; the adjacent new Riverloop Expo area along Jefferson Street between West Park Avenue and West Third Street, where the Public Market building is located; and the parking lot at West Fourth and Commercial street adjacent to The Courier.

Here's what's currently planned at those locations:

Food, bands and children's activities, including a 10:30 a.m. pedal tractor pull, will be centered in the Public Market area. Jefferson Street will be closed between West Park and West Third and a music stage will be set up there. Disc jockeys and bands will be performing all day, including Chrome Horse DJ from 8 a.m. to noon; the Salsa Band from noon to 4 p.m. and Milk & Honey from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

It will be the inaugural event for the Riverloop Expo area. While it won't be completely landscaped and fenced, brick paving, lighting and other "hard landscaping" is anticipated to be completed in time, weather permitting, associate Waterloo city engineer Jamie Knutson said.

The Five Sullivan Brothers Center will feature various parts of the company's Waterloo operations, including a re-creation of the Product Engineering Center's virtual reality lab, and a display by United Auto Workers Local 838. John Deere merchandise for sale will be in the center's exhibition hall and Commercial Street lobby. An original "Waterloo Boy" tractor is scheduled to be displayed inside.

Jefferson also will be closed between West Fourth and West Park and large tents will be set up there for people to sit, eat and converse.

The West Fourth and Commercial parking lot will have the largest concentration of antique tractors on display, along with a blacksmith shop.

Parking will be available in city lots under U.S. Highway 218 near West Fourth Street; at the Deere Westfield Avenue parking lot; and in the city lot behind Happy Chef, 218 W. Mullan Ave. A complimentary shuttle service will operate between those lots and the convention center.

"Let's hope for a sunny warm weather day for the 90th anniversary celebration," Rodger said. "This is a great time to be in the agriculture business and we look forward to the future. It is also an appropriate time to celebrate the accomplishments of our 90 years here in Waterloo."

The history

But 90 years ago, the marriage of Deere and Waterloo was not a sure thing.

Deere's purchase of the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. culminated 60 days of negotiations and a last minute take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum from the president of the Waterloo company.

In 1918 Deere, founded in 1837, needed to get into the tractor business to remain competitive. Waterloo had a tractor business.

By 1918, the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. was "a well respected tractor manufacturer occupying a unique place in early tractor manufacturing," author Wayne G. Broehl wrote in his 1984 history of Deere.

Principals in the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. in 1918 were George B. Miller, Louis W. Witry and J.E. Johnson.

The Waterloo Boy tractor's performance drew the attention of Deere officials.

Deere executive Frank Silloway was a leading proponent of the purchase. "We should have a satisfactory tractor at a popular price, and not a high-priced tractor built for the few," Silloway told the Deere board of directors.

On March 14, when Deere's board wanted to hold the matter over for a day, "Waterloo's president called to say that unless the option Deere held (to buy the company) was exercised by that day the deal was off." The Deere board unanimously voted to purchase the plant.

The first Waterloo-made tractor bearing the John Deere name, the Model D, rolled off the assembly line in 1923. In 1926, the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. would be renamed the John Deere Tractor Co.

Sentiment for unionization began during the 1930s. In 1942, a majority of the workers approved the United Auto Workers as the bargaining agent.

In 1947, Deere's Waterloo operations became the John Deere Waterloo Tractor Works. Employment reached 7,000 by the end of the decade.

Deere began the 1950s with a 110-day strike that included the Waterloo operations. The dispute resulted in the company and union agreeing on a "standard hour" pay system.

The company began expanding beyond its downtown Westfield Avenue complex. In the mid-1950s the Product Engineering Center and Experimental Farm were established along what is now Deere Road. The Product Engineering Center would undergo a major expansion in 1980.

In 1959, the company re-tooled for its New Generation series of tractors launched in 1960. In 1963, Deere & Co. passed International Harvester in total sales and became the leading farm equipment manufacturer in the world.

The present-day John Deere Foundry on Westfield opened in 1970.

In 1975 the Engine Works on West Ridgeway Avenue opened. Finally, in 1979-80, the company opened its new tractor assembly division, at Newell Street and Elk Run Road.

By 1980 Deere employed 16,000 people in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls. Waterloo had became the largest site of Deere's operations.

The 1980s saw a downturn in economic fortunes. Employment at Deere's Waterloo operations dropped to 6,600 by 1986 and Waterloo saw a similar drop in population. The company and the UAW went through a company-record five-month strike and lockout in 1986-87.

The company's fortunes rebounded in the 1990s, due in large part to new Waterloo-made Deere tractors. The company reeled off five consecutive years of record profits from 1993-98, matched only by the current run. Employment is currently at about 5,100, up by about 300 from just a year ago.

Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1426 or pat.kinney@wcfcourier.com.