John Deere Warehouse

Description of the Historic Place

The John Deere Warehouse is a four-storey brick building that is representative of warehouses built during the pre-WWI era. Built in 1911, and located at 330 Ontario Avenue within the Central Industrial neighbourhood, the John Deere Warehouse is an example of an agricultural machinery warehouse in the early 1900s.

Heritage Value

The manufacturing and sale of agricultural implements were extremely central to the development of the homestead economy of the prairies. In western Canada various companies saw the potential profit of establishing an early presence in major centres, constructing substantial warehouses and sales centres, and establishing a network of both travelling and office salesmen.

In the first decade of the 20th century, the John Deere Plow Company established business in many American cities and in 1907, opened its Canadian operations which by 1918 included warehouses in Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Lethbridge, Edmonton and Saskatoon. The John Deere Plow Company enterprise had grown extremely rapidly from the first and very successful efforts of Vermont-born blacksmith, John Deere in 1837. Deere created a plow that incorporated a shaped steel moldboard which could cut soil cleanly and overcome the problem of soil packing that delayed the ploughing process. By 1857 the John Deere Plow Company Ltd. was producing 10,000 steel plows a year, many in use in the rich but sticky soil of the American Midwest. From its factory and headquarters in Moline, Illinois the John Deere Plow Company became the largest manufacturer of plows, small cultivators, wheeled cultivators, disk harrows, straw and corn cutters, seed drills and tractors.

While each John Deere Warehouse built in Canada is different in appearance, they are homogeneous in style: substantial, multi-storied with numerous windows throughout and large show-windows on the lowest level.  The building’s right side narrows to accommodate the industrial railway spur line on the east side and offers a warehouse capacity of 60,000 square feet. The John Deere Plow Company Ltd continued to occupy the building until 1961, when the property was sold to the City of Saskatoon. The City used the building first as Central Stores, followed by Public Works in 1977. 

Source: City of Saskatoon Built Heritage Database

Character Defining Elements

Key elements which contribute to the heritage value of this historic resource include:

• Its representation of pre-WWI warehouses, evident in: its brick façade, large show-windows, upper storey windows with brick arches and stone sills; and
• Those features that reflect the building’s historical and commercial history such as the ‘John Deere Plow Co.’ painted wall sign above the front entrance; the 'Central Store City of Saskatoon' painted wall sign on the building's west facade; its form, massing, scale and its location near the rail yards.