https://www.homeshoppingguide.com/tags/catalog-requests/Recent content in Catalog Requests on HomeShoppingGuide.comHugo -- gohugo.ioenHomeShoppingGuide.comTue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.homeshoppingguide.com/post/montgomery-ward-catalog-history-second-life/Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.homeshoppingguide.com/post/montgomery-ward-catalog-history-second-life/ <h2 id="how-a-one-page-price-list-became-the-wish-book-and-why-there-is-a-wards-catalog-again">How a one-page price list became the wish book, and why there is a Wards catalog again</h2> <p>Montgomery Ward began as a single sheet mailed to farmers. It went on to become one of the largest catalog operations in the country. A catalog with the Montgomery Ward name still goes out today, but a different company mails it.</p> <p>The first attempt burned. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed Aaron Montgomery Ward's stock before the business got going. He and his partners started again in their first warehouse, near Clark and Kinzie streets. What began in 1872 as a one-page catalog for farmers in rural areas grew into a large mail-order house and, later, a retail chain (<a href="https://www.wttw.com/chicago-stories/rise-and-fall-of-the-mail-order-giants/then-and-now-the-chicago-sites-where-sears-and-montgomery-ward-became-giants">WTTW</a>).</p>