Grand Detour, IL

Grand Detour is an unincorporated census-designated place in Ogle County, Illinois, United States. The 2020 census counted 424 residents. John Deere invented the steel plow in Grand Detour, and the John Deere House and Shop is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Grand Detour was founded in 1835 by Leonard Andrus of Vermont. A newcomer can read Grand Detour through the overlap of its older landmarks, surrounding geography, and current places. For a newcomer, Grand Detour comes into focus through those concrete links among its past, landscape, and current routines. In 1836 Andrus welcomed his friend and fellow Vermont native John Deere to the town, where Deere built a house and established a forge. The village is named after an odd turn in the Rock River.