{"nrhp_refnum":"84003497","name":"Montgomery Ward Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3-7 W. Market St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lewistown","county":"Mifflin County","state":"PA","lat":40.59856194500003,"lon":-77.57338657099996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-09-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story department store with mezzanine and an adjoining office building on Market Street in Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, designed in the Art Deco style.","why_significant":"The building is presented as a well-preserved, architect-designed example of small-scale Art Deco commercial architecture and as the only Art Deco building in Lewistown. It is also significant as one of the early full-line department stores built by the mail order firm Montgomery Ward and Company, which entered retail chain operations in the later 1920s.","narrative":"Built in 1929 on Monument Square in Lewistown, this steel-frame commercial block combines a department store with adjoining offices, faced in buff and red brick. Designed by York, Pennsylvania architects G. Frank Witman and John B. Royer, it is regarded as a more academic and sophisticated Art Deco design than the vernacular versions common in small towns. Its stepped facade, strong vertical pilasters, and two-story window bays are typical of the style, and its chevron terra cotta bands, herringbone brick panels, and glazed tile diamond motifs add decorative richness. The central bays carry a terra cotta panel of a female figure holding a torch, identified as the Spirit of Progress, a logo used by the company. Montgomery Ward and Company leased the site from local attorney A. Reed Hayes in December 1928, and the store opened in December 1929. The building marks the firm's move into direct retailing, a shift that followed Sears's earlier chain stores. It also documents the arrival of a modern architectural style in a town otherwise shaped by earlier Federal-era buildings.","period_of_significance":"1929","architect_builder":"G. Frank Witman and John B. Royer (architects); Montgomery Ward and Company (client)","architectural_style":"Art Deco","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Original storefront on the department store was replaced with aluminum c. 1950; flagpole removed.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:32.92063-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/84003497.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003497/ee119ecd1a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003497/ee119ecd1a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Montgomery_Ward_Building_Lewistown_PA_Apr_10.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Montgomery_Ward_Building_Lewistown_PA_Apr_10.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996254","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Ward_Building_(Lewistown,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6905824"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/mifflin-county/montgomery-ward-building-84003497/"}