John Deere 320

This 1957 John Deere 320U, serial #321398 (#178), was purchased new from a local John Deere dealer by my Grandfather, William Decas. I accompanied him on the day he bought it. Since then, the tractor has been used continuously on the family cranberry bogs. The John Deere was used to cut grass with either a sickle bar or rotary mower, haul cranberry harvest boxes off the bogs during harvest, set cranberry vine on new or rebuilt bogs, grade dirt roads with a rear-mounted blade, and various uses around the family cranberry processing plant.

I started driving the JD when I was about ten years old. Over the years, we have had several tractors, including two Internationals and a Cockshutt. The John Deere has survived because of the quality, and it was my favorite tractor. After a three-year rebuild, in which a friend and his son helped me, I now use it to run errands around Rochester, Massachusetts, where the tractor was first purchased. I photographed the John Deere while inspecting one of our locations, which was built in the 1930s.

William Decas Chamberlain
Rochester, Maine

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