Esther Howland and the Valetine's Day Card in America

You might notice the heart at the center of the Seal of Worcester, Massachusetts on Valentines Day and though the “Heart of the Commonwealth” pre-dates any connotation with the day, it was Worcester native Esther Howland who first popularized the Valentine’s Day Card in the United States

Esther Howland was born in Worcester MA in 1828. At age 19, Miss Howland would receive a valentine from an associate of her father. Valentines Day Cards, already popular in Victorian England, were rarely seen in the US and if so were expensive trinkets imported from overseas and out of reach to most Americans. Esther would soon change that.

Esther would petition her father to purchase some lace and other supplies from London & New York and made a dozen samples of her Valentines Day Cards and gave them to her salesman brother to show around. Hoping for a modest return, the cards were and almost immediate hit and her brother returned with orders for $5,000 worth of cards.

The year 1850 saw the start of #NewEnglandValentineCompany and most of #EstherHowland cards would still be hand assembled by herself and friends at a long table at her home at 68 Summer Street in #Worcester. By 1870 the company was so successful it moved to new headquarters at Harrington Corner. Merging with another maker of cards Esther would eventually sell the business to the Whitney Company who would continue to make cards in Worcester up until paper shortages during World War 2 closed the factory in 1942.