Howard H. McPeak Collection

Tarrant County Archives > Holdings > Named Collections > M > McPeak, Howard H.

Historical Note

Montgomery Ward was established in 1872 as a mail order business in Chicago. In 1928, the business constructed a regional distributions center and store in Fort Worth, located at 2600 W. 7th Street. The building, a notable Mission Revival style warehouse structure, was utilized by Montgomery Ward until the business closed in 2001. The building still stands and has been modified for adaptive reuse for retail and apartments, known as Montgomery Plaza. A large portion of this collection relates to Montgomery Ward.

Howard H. McPeak was a long-time display manager at the Montgomery Ward store on W. 7th Street in Fort Worth. He was active in local Boy Scouts troops and the Kiwanis Club, as well as other civic organizations. McPeak was also interested in preservation of local history and served on the Tarrant County Historical Commission for many years.

Scope and Contents

The Howard H. McPeak Collection is primarily focused on Montgomery Ward in Fort Worth, but also includes materials related to Seminary South Mall, books on local history, and newspaper clippings related to various major events. The collection contains photographs, negatives, catalogs, books, newspapers and clippings, plans, maps, and correspondence. Materials in this collection date from 1906 through 2004, with some materials undated.

 

Dirigible Los Angeles over Montgomery Wards in 1928

United States Navy dirigible, the Los Angeles, over Montgomery Ward, Fort Worth, Camera Craft Studios, September 1928

View the Howard H. McPeak image gallery.

Materials in this collection consist of the following:

Montgomery Ward Materials

Photographs

  • Construction of Montgomery Ward building on W. 7th Street, February 4, 1928-September 1928
  • Bronze building plaque covering time capsule, circa 1928
  • Montgomery Ward building exterior and interior views, circa 1928
  • Displays of various products within the Montgomery Ward building including furniture, rugs, lamps, bicycles, instruments, heaters, soda fountain, fabric, auto parts, hats, car stereos, and cooking ranges, circa 1928-circa 1969
  • Crowd waiting outside on opening day, 1928
  • Stock boys on roller skates, circa 1928
  • Montgomery Ward building with dirigible, Los Angeles, returning from the Panama Canal Zone, September 1928
  • Staff at Fort Worth Montgomery Ward, circa 1928
  • Party scene at dinner tables, Maurice Petifils, circa 1945
  • Man in suit and woman in cowgirl hat presenting tickets to Southwestern Exposition Roundup Club to man at a desk, circa 1928
  • 1949 Flood photos, damage inside Montgomery Ward, aerial photos of buildings under water, photos of damage to nearby buildings, 1949
  • Wedding reception at Swift's Camp on Lake Worth, Skeet Richardson Photo, 1952
  • Employees at front of building opening time capsule and adding newer items, circa 1963

Other

  • Montgomery Ward Catalog: Collector's Edition, 1922
  • Montgomery Ward Catalog: Century Edition, 1872-1972
  • Forward publications, 1923-1924 and 1925-1926
  • Company Report on the effects of the May 17, 1949 flood with photographs, estimates of department stock damaged, monetary value, and results from sale of damaged goods for salvage, circa 1949
  • Plans of Montgomery Ward building drawn by H. H. McPeak on occasion for addition to building on east wing, August 8, 1955
  • Correspondence from and to Howard McPeak concerning requests for loans of Montgomery Ward memorabilia, circa 1949
  • Newspaper clippings concerning the May 17, 1949 flood, circa 1949

Maps

  • "New Map of Texas with the Contiguous American and Mexican States" by J.H. Young, published by Augustus Mitchell, 1837
  • "Sesquicentennial Map of Texas" drawn and designed by Richard Alan Hubbard, published by John Davis, April 21, 1985
  • "Sesquicentennial Map of Texas showing Battles of the Texas Revolution," compiled by John Davis, drawn and edited by Richard Alan Hubbard, Texas Sesquicentennial Press, 1984

Newspapers

  • Fort Worth Daily Gazette, August 26, 1884 (reprint)
  • "Man on the Moon," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 21, 1969 
  • "Apollo Makes Perfect Landing," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 24, 1969
  • "Allied Armies Land in France in the Havre-Cherbourg Area; Great Invasion is Under Way," The New York Times, June 6, 1944
  • Bell Helicopter/Textron edition, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 21, 1976
  • "Big Party Begins, USA Birthday," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 4, 1976
  • "Bicentennial Memory Book," Fort Worth News-Tribune, 1975
  • "In Old Fort Worth," Fort Worth News-Tribune, July 2, 3, 4, 1976
  • "Carter Becomes 39th president," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 20, 1977
  • "Reagan is Shot," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 30, 1981
  • "John Hinkley is Moved," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 31, 1981
  • "Farewell, Fort Worth," Fort Worth Press, May 30, 1975
  • "1995 All-Star Game," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 9, 1995
  • "Kimbell Art Museum," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, October 1, 1972
  • "A New Moon at the Modern," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 8, 2002
  • "Casa Grande," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, October 5, 2003
  • "Fort Worth 150," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 6, 1999
  • "Show Stopper," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 20, 2004
  • "Columbia is Lost," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 2, 2003
  • "As Nation Mourns, Search Continues," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 3, 2003
  • "NASA Questions Judgment on Tiles," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 4, 2003
  • "NASA Hopes Wing Piece Yields Clues," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, February 8, 2003
  • "Tarrant County 3-D," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 1, 2004
  • "Inside the Texan," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 28, 2004
  • "A New Star in Grapevine," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 2, 2004
  • "Arts in Arlington," Fort Worth Star-Telegram supplement, March 1982
  • "Foes on the Run, Bush Says," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, October 12, 2001
  • "A Nation Remembers, September 11, 2001" Star-Telegram, September 8, 2002
  • "Bearing Witness," Star-Telegram, September 7, 2003
  • "We Will Never Forget, September 11, 2001," Star-Telegram, September 11, 2003
  • "U.S. Troops in the Middle East," Star-Telegram, March 14, 2003.
  • "Inside the White House, Our New First Lady," Saturday Evening Post, February 8, 1964
  • "Memories of my Boyhood, Dwight D. Eisenhower," Saturday Evening Post, April 8, 1967

Photographs

  • Tombstone of Ira and Abigail Harmon at the Harmon Cemetery in Tarrant County, Texas, monochromatic, undated

Publications (non-newspaper)

  • Assorted pamphlets from Jack Williams Chevrolet
  • "Brave Men and Cold Steel: A History of Range Detective and Their Peacemakers," Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation, 1984
  • Famous Trees of Texas, 3rd edition, ed. John A. Haislet, Texas Forest Service, A Part of the Texas A&M University System, 1984
  • The Fort Worth Club: A Centennial Story, Irvin Farman, 1985
  • "Greater Fort Worth 1907: The gateway to the Great State of Texas," published by A. O Jennings, 1907
  • "The Legacy Fund," undated
  • Lure of the Land, Texas County Maps and the history of Settlement, Joe B. Frantz and Mike Cox, ed. by Roger A Griffin with a foreword by Garry Mauro, published for the Texas General Land Office by Texas A&M Press, College Station, undated
  • "Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation," undated
  • "Those Daring Young Men: A History of the Automobile Pioneers in Fort Worth, 1902-1940," Michael Collins, Ph. D., published by Frank D. Kent, produced by the Fort Worth News-Tribune, 1985
  • Time, July 25, 1969, story "Man on the Moon"
  • Time, July 18, 1969, story "To the Moon"
  • A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas illustrated Vol. I and II, ed. Capt. B. B. Paddock, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, New York, 1906

Sam Houston Statue Dedication

  • Two souvenirs
  • Huntsville Item, October 16, 1994
  • Dedication program
  • Sam Houston Statue visitor center and gift shop pamphlet
  • The Sam Houston Trail pamphlet