John Deere Ottumwa Works

About John Deere Ottumwa Works Hay And Forage Ottumwa Iowa

Industrial Manufacturing in Ottumwa, Iowa

John Deere Ottumwa Works — part of Deere & Company’s agricultural equipment manufacturing network — has operated in Ottumwa, Iowa for well over a century. The plant, located in Wapello County in southeastern Iowa, manufactured hay and forage equipment, including:

• Balers
• Mowers
• Rakes
• Related agricultural machinery

Facility Scale and Operations

The Ottumwa Works operated through much of the twentieth century as a large-scale industrial complex encompassing:

• Foundry operations
• Metal fabrication and stamping
• Pipe and steam systems
• Electrical infrastructure
• Machinery assembly

Facilities running foundry operations, stamping lines, and high-pressure steam systems routinely incorporated asbestos-containing materials as a matter of standard industrial practice from the early twentieth century through the late 1970s and into the 1980s. The Ottumwa Works was no different.

Deere & Company’s Manufacturing Footprint in Iowa

Deere & Company, headquartered in Moline, Illinois, operated multiple manufacturing plants across Iowa and the broader Midwest. The Ottumwa Works ranked among its major Iowa production sites. Other Iowa industrial facilities of the same era — including Quaker Oats in Cedar Rapids, Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, and John Morrell in Sioux City — shared the same standard construction practices and similarly may have incorporated asbestos-containing materials in construction, insulation systems, and equipment throughout their operational histories. The Ottumwa Works reportedly incorporated asbestos-containing materials in the same fashion, consistent with mid-twentieth century manufacturing practice across Iowa’s industrial base.

Why Asbestos Appeared Throughout Industrial Plants

Asbestos — a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral — dominated mid-twentieth century industrial construction for practical reasons:

• Heat resistance: the default material for insulating steam pipes, boilers, furnaces, and kilns
• Fire retardancy: required by building codes and insurance underwriters in industrial facilities
• Electrical insulation: used in wiring systems and electrical panels
• Mechanical durability: incorporated into gaskets, packing materials, clutch facings, and brake linings
• Low cost and wide availability: making it the standard insulating material for most of the twentieth century

Foundries, stamping operations, and heavy machinery environments — all reportedly present at the Ottumwa Works — generated intense heat, required steam and hot water systems, and used equipment demanding fire-resistant materials throughout. Asbestos-containing materials were the industry standard at facilities of this type and era across Iowa and the Midwest.

Timeline: When Asbestos-Containing Materials Were Present

Asbestos-containing materials were in widespread industrial use across the United States from approximately 1920 through the late 1970s, with some products remaining in service — and in some cases still being installed — into the 1980s.

Peak use in U.S. manufacturing facilities occurred during the 1940s through the 1960s, coinciding with post-war industrial expansion and high production demand. The Ottumwa Works reportedly operated at high capacity during these same decades, consistent with Iowa’s broader postwar manufacturing expansion.

In the early to mid-1970s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began regulating asbestos following documented evidence of its lethal health effects. The Clean Air Act and subsequent National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regulations required facilities to identify, contain, and remove asbestos-containing materials during renovations and demolitions. Abatement projects that were not properly controlled could themselves generate dangerous fiber releases.

Workers at the Ottumwa Works during renovation and maintenance periods in the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials installed decades earlier — materials that had deteriorated or were being disturbed during repair work.

Asbestos-related disease does not target only one trade. At a large industrial manufacturing facility like the Ottumwa Works, multiple trades and job classifications may have encountered asbestos-containing materials — directly, and as bystanders working in spaces where asbestos work was occurring simultaneously.

High-Risk Trades and Potential Asbestos Exposure

Insulators

Insulation workers carry the highest documented asbestos-related disease rates among all industrial trades. Insulators who worked at the Ottumwa Works — whether as direct Deere & Company employees or as contractor tradespeople affiliated with Asbestos Workers Local 12, which represented heat and frost insulators in Iowa — may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials daily while:

• Applying pipe insulation
• Removing or replacing deteriorated pipe insulation
• Installing and servicing block insulation
• Working with boiler covering

Iowa’s Asbestos Workers Local 12 has documented exposure histories at industrial plants across the state, including southeastern Iowa manufacturing facilities. The Ottumwa Works represents exactly the type of worksite where insulation contractors affiliated with Local 12 were routinely engaged for installation and maintenance projects.

Pipefitters and Steamfitters

Pipefitters and steamfitters — including members of Pipefitters Local 33 — who worked on the Ottumwa Works’ steam and process piping systems worked in close proximity to asbestos-containing pipe insulation throughout their careers. Potential asbestos exposure among this trade included:

• Cutting through insulation to access pipe joints
• Working alongside insulators applying or removing insulation
• Handling asbestos-containing gaskets from gaskets and packing during valve and flange work
• Installing asbestos-containing packing materials on mechanical connections

Pipefitters Local 33 members who rotated through multiple Iowa industrial worksites — including facilities like Quaker Oats in Cedar Rapids and Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids — may have accumulated asbestos exposure across multiple job sites in addition to any work performed at the Ottumwa Works.

Boilermakers

Boilermakers — including members of Boilermakers Local 83 — who installed, maintained, and repaired boilers and pressure vessels at the Ottumwa Works may have been exposed to asbestos-containing materials on a regular basis, including:

• Asbestos-containing insulation
• Asbestos-containing refractory materials
• Asbestos-containing gaskets from gaskets and packing

Boilermakers faced particularly intense exposure risk because their work required them to work inside confined boiler spaces where disturbed asbestos-containing materials had nowhere to diss

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