In partnership with the Maine Memory Network Maine Memory Network

Maine History Online

Maine History Online

A Maine Historical Society Website

Header Graphic

Herman Cassens and Real Photo Postcards

Eastern Illustrating Co. logo, Belfast

Eastern Illustrating Co. logo, Belfast

Item 25838 info
Penobscot Marine Museum

Cassens was 33 when he founded the Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company.

He had married the daughter of Edgar Hanson, a prominent businessman and mayor of Belfast and worked for him at the Waldo County Herald before venturing out on his own.

Cassens had good business sense and picked the right product at the right time.

The Eastern soon became the largest manufacturer of photo postcards on the East Coast if not the U.S.

At its peak, Eastern produced over a million postcards a year.