The East Moline, Ill., factory was built in 1910 to produce binders. John Deere opened Harvester Works at the facility in 1912 to manufacture horse-drawn grain binders, mowers, rakes and corn binders. The company’s first combine was introduced in 1927.

The special 9870 has a plaque attached to its front indicating its place in John Deere history, and Briggs got to tighten its bolts after a factory tour. This past summer, the combine was on display at the John Deere Pavilion and made the trip to the John Deere Classic golf tournament. Briggs took delivery of the machine at the beginning of September.

A John Deere 9870 model combine rolled off the assembly line on May 7, 2010, as the 500,000th combine the company has made. Illinois farmer Greg Briggs purchased the milestone machine.

Celebrating the 500,000th John Deere combine are (from left): Dennis Muszalski, factory manager; Tom Sloan, CEO of Sloan Implement Company; Greg Briggs, a Cisco, Ill., farmer; and Dave White, John Deere territory manager.

To celebrate the milestone, Greg Briggs and Tom Sloan took a Gold Key tour at Harvester Works. As an added customer relations effort, John Deere introduced the Gold Key Program in East Moline in 1995 and has expanded it to other factories. Harvester Works will conduct 1,000 tours in 2010.