HISTORY & MILESTONES WARDS MASTER QUALITY was a brand used by Montgomery Ward & Co., a major mail order company that was headquartered in Chicago. Although they were in business from 1872 through 1997 the brand in question was probably only used between the 1920s and the early 1940s. Apparently It was discontinued because of the cut-backs that arose from WWII. It is not clear if it was re-introduced after WWII.