What Killed Montgomery Ward?

In 1872, a Chicago salesman mailed farmers a single sheet of paper and started the American mail-order catalog. Montgomery Ward grew into one of the nation's great retailers, put its guarantee in writing, and gave the world Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Then a chairman who was sure a depression was coming stopped building stores, and the company never caught up. The rise and fall of Montgomery Ward, told from the catalogs, photographs and records of the time. Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:55 Twelve Feet by Fourteen 3:18 The Book in Every Farmhouse 7:14 The Watchdog of the Lakefront 8:26 From Catalog to Main Street 10:29 The Man Who Saved Ward's 12:12 The Army Comes for Mr. Avery 14:17 Waiting for the Crash 16:48 The Long Goodbye 19:17 What Remains Sources Montgomery Ward & Co., Catalogue No. 13 (1875), No. 21 (1878), No. 84 (1916), No. 110 (1929), via Internet Archive National Register of Historic Places nomination, Montgomery Ward and Company Complex (1977): npgallery.nps.gov International Directory of Company Histories, "Montgomery Ward & Co., Incorporated": encyclopedia.com Time magazine archive: Nov. 14, 1938; May 6, 1940; May 8, 1944; Jan. 8, 1945; Sept. 6, 1954; Nov. 22, 1954; May 23, 1955; Oct. 19, 1959; Nov. 14, 1960 Executive Orders 9438 and 9508 (1944), American Presidency Project Waxman and Weitzman, "Remembering the Montgomery Ward Seizure," Lawfare (2020) American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming: Montgomery Ward records, 1849-1989 Library of Congress blog on Rudolph and Johnny Marks (2024); Duke University Rubenstein Library (2017) USPS Historian, "Rural Free Delivery"; Smithsonian Libraries, "Parcel Post: Delivery of Dreams" The Henry Ford, "Rural America Shops by Mail" Newsweek, "You Snooze, You Lose" (1997); Financial Times (2006) Christian Science Monitor (1985, 2001); UPI and AP (Dec. 28, 2000); Montgomery Ward Holding Corp. Form 10-K (1999) WBEZ, "Why does Chicago have so little love for the 'Watchdog' of the lakefront?" (2026); Chicago Park District Preservation Chicago (2025); City of Chicago Landmarks; Bisnow (2025) Picture and music credits Downtown Chicago Illinois Nov05 ste 2565: Unknown author, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... State Street Chicago Christmas 1949: Joe+Jeanette Archie, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... 1949-CM02008 (3552981140): Joe+Jeanette Archie, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... 20141226 03 former Montgomery Ward Headquarters (25911211953): David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... 1974-GM050-890 (4158370262) (Montgomery Ward headquarters): Joe+Jeanette Archie, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Montgomery Ward Building, Mitchell, SD: Publichall, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Montgomery Ward Warehouse (3890232980): Jaysin Trevino from Evanston, IL, US, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Montgomery Ward Complex (9182673219): Fifth World Design from United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... 6-North-Michigan-Avenue-Chicago-2014: Acediscovery, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... 20130920 27 The Spirit of Progress (14453789324): David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Sudown on the river (1628142599): CGAphoto from Chicago, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Downtown Chicago Illinois Nov05 std 2539: Unknown author, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Internet Archive: 14 public-domain or no-known-restrictions items Library of Congress: 28 public-domain or no-known-restrictions items Wikimedia Commons: 45 public-domain or no-known-restrictions items Full list of pictures in the pinned comment. How we make these videos: produced and edited by James Malizia. Research and script are drafted with AI assistance, then checked and edited by James Malizia against the sources above. The narration voice is AI-generated. The photographs, documents and maps are real archival material.