also the store s 1982 1995 and 2004 present logo former type private original incarnation mail order and department store current incarnation online retailer and catalog merchant industry retail fate bankruptcy in 2000 ; full liquidation in 2001 namesake retailer launched in 2004 after purchase of trademarks founded 1872 ; 144 years ago 1872 as mail order company and later department store defunct 2001 2004 as current online retailer defunct june 2001 original company headquarters original company in chicago illinois united states 2004 to 2008 namesake company monroe wisconsin united states key people original company 1872 founder aaron montgomery ward namesake company john baumann president of parent company swiss colony products clothing footwear bedding furniture jewelry beauty products appliances housewares tools and electronics . divisions riverside electric avenue wards kids montgomery ward catalog website www.wards.com montgomery ward was the name of two historically distinct american retail enterprises . it can refer either to the defunct mail order and department store retailer which operated between 1872 and 2001 or to the current catalog and online retailer also known as wards . contents 1 original montgomery ward 1872 2001 1.1 company origins 1.2 expansion into retail outlets 1.3 government seizure 1.4 decline 1.5 bankruptcy restructuring and liquidation 1.6 termination of pension plan 1.7 distribution centers 2 as online retailer 3 see also 4 references 5 further reading 6 external links original montgomery ward 1872 2001 edit company origins edit progress lighting the way for commerce designed for montgomery ward by sculptor j. massey rhind appeared as a medallion on many of their stores montgomery ward was founded by aaron montgomery ward in 1872 . 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 . he observed that rural customers often wanted city goods but their only access to them was through rural retailers who had little competition and did not offer any guarantee of quality . ward also believed that by eliminating intermediaries he could cut costs and make a wide variety of goods available to rural customers who could purchase goods by mail and pick them up at the nearest train station . after several false starts including the destruction of his first inventory by the great chicago fire ward started his business at his first office either in a single room at 825 north clark street 1 or in a loft above a livery stable on kinzie street between rush and state streets . 2 he and two partners used 1 600 they had raised in capital and issued their first catalog in august 1872 which consisted of an 8 in 12 in 20 cm 30 cm single sheet price list listing 163 items for sale with ordering instructions for which ward had written the copy . his two partners left the following year but he continued the struggling business and was joined by his future brother in law george robinson thorne . in the first few years the business was not well received by rural retailers . considering ward a threat they sometimes publicly burned his catalog . despite the opposition however the business grew at a fast pace over the next several decades fueled by demand primarily from rural customers who were inspired by the wide selection of items that were unavailable to them locally . customers were also inspired by the innovative and unprecedented company policy of satisfaction guaranteed or your money back which ward began in 1875 . ward turned the copy writing over to department heads but he continued poring over every detail in the catalog for accuracy . in 1883 the company s catalog which became popularly known as the wish book had grown to 240 pages and 10 000 items . in 1896 wards acquired its first serious competition in the mail order business when richard warren sears introduced his first general catalog . in 1900 wards had total sales of 8.7 million compared to 10 million for sears and both companies would struggle for dominance during much of the 20th century . by 1904 the company had expanded as such that it mailed three million catalogs weighing 4 lb 1.8 kg each to customers . 3 in 1908 the company opened a 1.25 million ft 116 000 m building stretching along nearly one quarter mile of the chicago river north of downtown chicago . the building known as the montgomery ward & co. catalog house served as the company headquarters until 1974 when the offices moved across the street to a new tower designed by minoru yamasaki . the catalog house was declared a national historic landmark in 1978 and a chicago historic landmark in may 2000 . 4 in the decades before 1930 montgomery ward built a network of large distributions centers across the country in baltimore fort worth kansas city st. paul portland and oakland . in most cases these reinforced concrete structures were the largest industrial structures in their respective locations . the baltimore montgomery ward warehouse and retail store was added to the national register of historic places in 2000 . 5 6 1968 1982 montgomery ward logo 1995 1997 montgomery ward logo expansion into retail outlets edit ward died in 1913 after 41 years running the catalog business . the company president william c. thorne eldest son of the co founder died in 1917 and was succeeded by robert j. thorne . robert thorne retired in 1920 due to ill health . in 1926 the company broke with its mail order only tradition when it opened its first retail outlet store in plymouth indiana . it continued to operate its catalog business while pursuing an aggressive campaign to build retail outlets in the late 1920s . in 1928 two years after opening its first outlet it had opened 244 stores . by 1929 it had more than doubled its number of outlets to 531 . its flagship retail store in chicago was located on michigan avenue between madison and washington streets . in 1930 the company declined a merger offer from its rival chain sears . losing money during the great depression the company alarmed its major investors including j. p. morgan . in 1931 morgan hired sewell avery as president who cut staff levels and stores changed lines hired store rather than catalog managers and refurbished stores . these actions caused the company to turn profitable before the end of the 1930s . wards was very successful in its retail business . green awning stores dotted hundreds of small towns across the country . larger stores were built in the major cities . by the end of the 1930s montgomery ward had become the country s largest retailer . it was this period of growth and prosperity that earned its president sewell avery an unchallenged position as chief executive officer . in 1939 as part of a christmas promotional campaign staff copywriter robert l. may created the character and illustrated poem of rudolph the red nosed reindeer . the store distributed six million copies of the storybook in 1946 and actor and singer gene autry popularized the song nationally . vacant montgomery ward store regency mall augusta ga former montgomery ward store huntington center huntington beach ca demolished in 2010 electric avenue logo on closed store in panorama city california 2010 after world war ii sewell avery believed the country would fall back into a recession or even a depression . he decided to not open any new stores . in fact he would not even permit the expenditure of paint to freshen the stores . he wanted to bank the profits wards was making so that he could have the liquidity when the recession or depression hit . then he would buy up his retail competition . without new stores or any investment back into the business montgomery ward declined in sales volume compared to sears and many people have blamed the conservative decisions of its president sewell avery . avery seemed to not understand the changing economy of the postwar years . as new shopping centers were built after the war it was sears that got the best locations and wards was shut out of any opportunity to expand . nonetheless for many years wards was still the nation s third largest department store chain . in 1946 the grolier club a society of bibliophiles in new york city exhibited the wards catalog alongside webster s dictionary as one of 100 american books chosen for their influence on life and culture of the people . the brand name of the store became embedded in the popular american consciousness and was often called by the nickname monkey ward both affectionately and derisively . government seizure edit in april 1944 four months into a nationwide strike by the company s 12 000 workers u.s. army troops seized the chicago offices of montgomery ward & company because avery refused to settle the strike as requested by the roosevelt administration because of its adverse effect on the delivery of needed goods in wartime . 7 avery had refused to comply with a war labor board order to recognize the unions and institute the terms of a collective bargaining agreement . eight months later with montgomery ward continuing to refuse to recognize the unions president roosevelt issued an executive order seizing all of montgomery ward s property nationwide citing the war labor disputes act as well as his power under the constitution as commander in chief . in 1945 truman ended the seizure and the supreme court ended the pending appeal as moot . 8 decline edit in 1955 investor louis wolfson waged a high profile proxy fight to obtain control of the board of montgomery ward . the new board forced the resignation of avery . this fight led to a state court decision that illinois corporations are not entitled to stagger election of their board members under that state s laws as well as to tax litigation over whether the costs of a proxy fight are an ordinary and necessary business expense . 9 in time it helped inspire new securities and exchange commission rules concerning proxies . meanwhile throughout the 1950s the company was slow to respond to the general movement of the american middle class to suburbia . while its former rivals sears jcpenney macy s gimbels and dillard s established new anchor outlets in the growing number of suburban shopping malls avery and succeeding top executives had been reluctant to pursue such expansion . they stuck to their downtown and main street stores until the company had lost too much market share to compete with its rivals . after avery s departure in 1955 it took two years before the first new store since the 1930s was opened in 1957 . wards tried to become more aggressive with store opening but it was too late . competition had already taken the best locations . as the existing stores looked worn and disheveled often malls would not entertain allowing wards to build there . its catalog business had begun to slip by the 1960s . in 1968 it merged with container corporation of america to become marcor inc. during the 1970s the company continued to flounder . in 1973 its 101st year in business it purchased a small discount store chain the miami based jefferson stores inc. it renamed the stores jefferson ward . 10 in 1976 mobil flush with cash from the recent rise in oil prices acquired montgomery ward . by 1980 mobil realized that the montgomery ward stores were doing poorly in comparison to the jefferson stores and decided that high quality discount units along the lines of dayton hudson company s target stores would be the retailer s future . within 18 months management quintupled the size of the operation now called jefferson ward to more than 40 units and planned to