Montgomery Ward and Company Building
a.k.a. Tindall Storage Warehouse
801 Grove St., Fort Worth, TXThe Montgomery Ward & Company Building is an important building during the early 20th century in Fort Worth, Texas. It was used as a place for the company to expand its mail-order catalog business, and the building has been used as a place for events such as its centennial celebration.
Established in the 1870s by entrepreneur Aaron Montgomery Ward, Montgomery Ward & Company pioneered the mail order catalog business, offering a wide variety of consumer goods to rural America at wholesale prices. The rapid success of the company prompted the company's expansion from its home base of Chicago to Kansas City, and in 1911, to Fort Worth. The Montgomery Ward & Company Building strongly exemplifies the economic development of Fort Worth during the early 20th century as the city grew into a major rail and distribution center for the southwest. The building was the first home for Montgomery Ward when it expanded its mail-order catalog business to Fort Worth, a location the company specifically chose to meet the growing number of orders from the south and southwest. The building's construction and modest stylistic influences reflect common building trends in utilitarian warehouse facilities of the early 20th century. The Montgomery Ward & Company Building meets Criterion A at the local level of significance for its association with the early growth of Montgomery Ward & Company and the role that the company played in the commercial and economic development of Fort Worth during the early 20th century.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.