August 27, 1872 – Montgomery Ward begins
the first mail-order company by creating a catalog to reach rural
consumers. The catalog is one page and
consists of a simple list of 163 items with ordering instructions. After coming to Chicago in 1865, Word worked
in wholesale operations for several firms and “In tedious rounds of train trips
to southern communities, hiring rigs at the local stables, driving out to the
crossroads stores and listening to the complaints of the back-country
proprietors and their rural customers, he conceived a new merchandising technique:
direct mail sales to country people.” [http://www.lib.niu.edu] With a stake of
$1,600 Ward and two partners worked from a small shipping office on North Clark
Street. A year later both partners abandoned the project, but Ward hung on, and
in the next ten years or so saw the growth of the catalog to 240 pages,
offering 10,000 items for sale.
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