WORCESTER, Mass. - Massachusetts is home to the “Mother of the American Valentine”: Esther Howland is known for creating America’s first mass-produced valentines, and all the love started in Worcester.

“It’s Esther’s day,” Worcester Historical Museum exhibits coordinator Vanessa Bumpus said. “So, we celebrate her year-round, but this is really when she gets to shine.”

Howland started making valentines out of Worcester in 1847, according to the Worcester Historical Museum. Bumpus said, for Esther, the inspiration came from a card gifted to her from a loved one.

“Her father is a stationery salesman, he goes to Europe, he sells around the United States, selling paper and goods like that,” Bumpus said. “And he brings her home a valentine from Europe. And she's like, ‘Oh, this is interesting,’ because we weren't celebrating it in America at this point. So, she says, ‘Well, I can do this.’”

Howland hired some friends and created an assembly-line workflow to create handmade, intricate valentines out of her Summer Street home. Bumpus said five years into her business, Howland was making over $100,000 in sales.

“I always like to say that Esther was the Martha Stewart of her day, and she would have just killed it on Etsy had it been around that time,” Bumpus said. “But we should brag about it. Worcester has some great firsts and great starts, and this is one of the ones we should be really proud of.”

After partnering with Edward Taft, son of Jotham from Grafton, Howland eventually sold the New England Valentine Co. to fellow Worcester resident George Whitney, according to the museum. Bumpus said Whitney introduced the printing press to the assembly process, ultimately dominating the card making industry.

While Esther Howland didn’t create the world’s first Valentine, a lot of the hype around the holiday can be credited to her.

“That's the most important thing,” Bumpus said. “We see hearts all over Worcester - they're on the roof in city hall, they're on the flag, they're on the street signs - that is because we are the 'Heart of the Commonwealth,' not because of the valentine. So, we always like to make sure people remember that fact. We did not invent it, but she was the queen of manufacturing them at that time.”

The $100,000 Howland was making in sales in the 1800s, according to the Historical Museum, now compares to more than $2 million.