Ware Pratt Company

Ware Pratt Company was a men’s and boy’s furnishings store in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts. It began as a small tailoring and ready-made clothing store established by A. P. Ware in 1847. Eleven years later a new firm was organized under the name A. P. Ware and Company. In 1869, company treasurer Pratt became a partner in the business, and the store was renamed Ware Pratt and Company, incorporating in 1888.

At the turn of the century, the company employed 100 employees and averaged $236,000 in annual sales. About a third of its revenue came from its custom tailoring department, which claimed to be “the most comprehensive in New England, employing several expert cutters and numerous skillful tailors, carrying an immense and varied stock of fine and medium foreign and domestic woolens, and favored with the patronage of legions of well-dressed men in all walks of life.”

The store was a mainstay in the downtown area for over 100 years, first located at the corner of Main and Pearl, moving into the State Mutual Building at Main and Maple streets just a few years later. The company was dissolved in 1979.

Written by Ranch Queen Vintage

from a 1903 morning suit

Courtesy of Ranch Queen Vintage