OMAHA (DTN) -- Recently one of my cousins bought a small gravity flow wagon and brought it out to our place. He said we could use it if we wanted to. It's a small wagon, although maybe we could put some feed in it for the cows.

I looked at the running gear and it was painted red, similar to an Electric Wheel running gear. When I read the tag on it, I saw the words "Montgomery Ward and Co., USA."

I knew Montgomery Ward manufactured or at least sold farm equipment many years ago, but I didn't know what they sold or what years they sold it in. So, I turned to the internet.

From my research, Aaron Montgomery Ward started Montgomery Ward and Company in Chicago in 1872. The company pioneered the mail-order industry and had the famous "Wish Book," a catalog which served rural residents until the retailer opened retail stores in 1926.

I never really found an exact time frame in which the company sold farm equipment. One website said they sold machinery until the 1960s while another one said the company sold farm machinery from 1940 to the 1970s.

Montgomery Wards even sold tractors during the 1940s and into the 1950s. They were branded as "Wards" tractors but manufactured by Cleveland Tractor Co. (Cletrac) and Harry A. Lowther Co., according to one website I found.

The Wards Twin-Row and General models were produced by Cletrac in the 1940s. Then, in the early 1950s, they marketed Model ER and EW tractors made by the Lowther Co.

The same goes for the wagons and running gears they sold during this same period. Another website claimed Wards sold Electric Wheel Company equipment branded under the Montgomery Ward name

Sometime in the 1950s or 1960s, the company pivoted to producing just garden tractors and lawn equipment. These smaller tractors were made by Gilson and were sold through the 1970s/1980s.

I remember getting two catalogs in the mail as a kid -- one was from Sears and the other one from Montgomery Ward. Those of us a certain age will remember how fun it was to go through the catalogs and circle all of the toys we wanted for Christmas that year.

There was at least one Montgomery Ward store in Omaha that I vaguely remember going to with my mom when I was kid in the 1980s. In 1985, the company discontinued their general catalogs to focus on their retail stores.

By 2000 and 2001, the company went into bankruptcy, and the last 250 stores were closed. The Montgomery Ward legacy was done.

I knew Montgomery Ward sold tractors for a short period of time as I had seen photos of the machines before. But I'm certain I have never seen one in person. This rarity makes them highly sought after by vintage tractor collectors, according to the one website I came across.

I told my Dad about what I found out about Montgomery Ward and their ventures into selling farm machinery. He said he remembered from his childhood their stores would have farm equipment there to be sold.

He also said the little grain cart (they called it an "auger wagon") he and my uncle had when I was kid was a Montgomery Ward wagon. I tried to find a photo online and many photos of their barge wagons came up but I never did find a photo of their auger wagon.

They used it probably through the 1990s. It was just big enough they could make it to the bin, dump the corn in and be back to the field before the combine had to stop. It certainly wasn't anything fancy.

When I was a teenager and began to help them, I would drive our John Deere 4010 tractor and the auger wagon for them. I LOVED driving it from field to field for them -- except when it was really cold, as the 4010 was an open station tractor.

Then it wasn't so fun anymore.

I always tried to convince them to put the wagon on our 4020 since it had a cab. But this tractor always had to stick close to home as it had a loader on it as well and my Dad needed it to feed hay to the cattle.

Occasionally the cabbed tractor was on the auger wagon in the fall if it was really cold but most of the time it was the open-station 4010.

They had parked the 4010 and wagon on the side hill as they combined that last harvest and after filling it the entire frame of the wagon bent down the hill. They augured the corn out of it and then it never got used again. It still sits in the trees.

I am curious to hear some of your stories about Montgomery Ward farm equipment. Please send them my way -- along with any pictures -- and we will use them in a future column.

Russ Quinn can be reached at Russ.Quinn@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @RussQuinnDTN

(c) Copyright 2026 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.