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Queen of hearts: Woman who started valentine card craze lived her last days in Quincy

Dana Barbuto, The Patriot Ledger
·2 min read

February 14 might be just another day if not for the creative genius of a woman who lived her last days in Quincy.

Esther Allen Howland is credited with introducing valentines into this country in the 19th century. She starting making her own designs in the attic of her family home in Worcester in 1849 and sold them in her father’s stationery shop.

Esther Allen Howland is credited with introducing valentine cards into this country in the 19th century. She died in 1904 in Quincy.
Esther Allen Howland is credited with introducing valentine cards into this country in the 19th century. She died in 1904 in Quincy.

Howland’s story and other Massachusetts historical connections to Valentine’s Day are told in the new book “Valentine’s Day Traditions in Boston” by local historian Anthony M. Sammarco.

A Barnstable resident, Sammarco is the author of more than 70 books, including "Jordan Marsh: New England's Largest Store," "The History of Howard Johnson’s” and “Christmas Traditions in Boston.”

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Sammarco traces the history of St. Valentine’s Day from its roots as an ancient Roman fertility festival to the $23.9 billion celebration of love it is today. He also highlights South Shore candy-makers Hilliards Chocolates, which began in 1924 in the Wollaston neighborhood of Quincy.

Esther Allen Howland is credited with introducing valentine cards into this country in the 19th century. She died in 1904 in Quincy.
Esther Allen Howland is credited with introducing valentine cards into this country in the 19th century. She died in 1904 in Quincy.

The book is dedicated to Howland, who is known as the “Mother of the American Valentine.” She is also the focus of a standalone 10-page chapter. Sammarco describes her cards as “handmade and heartfelt labors of love” that were “folded, sealed with wax.”

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At its height, Howland’s card-making enterprise rose to $100,000 in yearly sales. Howland started what is now a $1.3-billion-a-year greeting card business by instilling in Americans the tradition of sending messages of love to their sweethearts on Valentine’s Day. Eventually, she sold her business, the New England Valentine Co., in the 1880s to the George C. Whitney Co. of Worcester to care for her ailing father.

She is also credited with having the first assembly line. When her first orders came in she enlisted her friends to run the workshop from her home. Be it shuffling papers, securing ribbons or making lace doilies, each girl had one job to do and the valentine went down the line until it was finished.

Esther Allen Howland is credited with introducing valentine cards into this country in the 19th century. She died in 1904 in Quincy.
Esther Allen Howland is credited with introducing valentine cards into this country in the 19th century. She died in 1904 in Quincy.

Howland’s legacy continues. Beginning in 2001, the Greeting Card Association has annually given the "Esther Howland Award for a Greeting Card Visionary," and it estimates that 200 million valentines are sent each year in the United States.

Although Howland cornered the business of love, her affairs of the heart apparently were not as successful. She never married and died on March 15, 1904, at age 75. She was living with her brother on Adams Street in Quincy.

Esther Allen Howland is credited with introducing valentine cards into this country in the 19th century. She died in 1904 in Quincy.
Esther Allen Howland is credited with introducing valentine cards into this country in the 19th century. She died in 1904 in Quincy.

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Reach Dana Barbuto at dbarbuto@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Esther Howland, creator of first valentine cards, died in Quincy