21 Facts About Montgomery Ward

1. In 1985 Montgomery Ward ended its 113-year-old mail-order catalog business in order to concentrate on its retail operations.

2. In 1908, Montgomery Ward opened its first retail outlet in Plymouth, Indiana.

3. On December 7, 1913, Aaron Montgomery Ward died at the age of 69.

4. Montgomery Ward made a public relations coup in 1939, when a Ward copywriter wrote a booklet about a little red-nosed reindeer named Rudolph, which became a Christmas classic.

5. Montgomery Ward issued new stock in November of 1928 and opened 208 stores that year.

6. Montgomery Ward had its origins in the 1860s when young Chicagoan Aaron Montgomery Ward saw that he could undercut rural retailers by selling directly to farmers via mail order without intermediaries and by delivering via the railroad.

7. Montgomery Ward is a national retailer with more than 350 stores in 39 states.

8. In 1994, Montgomery Ward bought Lechmere from Berkshire for $113 million in cash and the assumption of $91 million of Lechmere debt.

9. Montgomery Ward became the tenth-largest privately held company in the United States.

10. Montgomery Ward was the sixth-largest retailer and the third-largest catalog house in the United States.

11. In 1981 Montgomery Ward lost $217 million on sales of $5.64 billion.

12. Montgomery Ward tried to get around this by selling house brands.

13. Montgomery Ward opened 30 new full-line stores between 1958 and 1960.

14. Montgomery Ward issued new stock in November 1928 and opened 208 stores that year.

15. Montgomery Ward had its origins in the 1860s when young Chicagoan Aaron Montgomery Ward saw that he could undercut rural retailers by selling directly to farmers via mail-order without intermediaries and by delivering by rail.

16. At its height, the original Montgomery Ward was one of the largest retailers in the United States.

17. All of Montgomery Ward was liquidated by the end of May 2001, ending a 129-year enterprise.

18. Montgomery Ward died in 1913, after 41 years running the catalog business.

19. Montgomery Ward started his business at his first office, either in a single room at 825 North Clark Street, or in a loft above a livery stable on Kinzie Street between Rush and State Streets.

20. Montgomery Ward had conceived of the idea of a dry goods mail-order business in Chicago, Illinois, after several years of working as a traveling salesman among rural customers.

21. Montgomery Ward was founded by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872.