Postcards by the Trainload
The Whitten & Dennison Company’s Rise and Removal from West Bethel
Goose Eye No. 5 (2025)
Postcards by the Trainload
The Whitten & Dennison Company’s Rise and Removal from West Bethel
William F. Chapman
For a brief period in the early nineteenth century the small village of West Bethel could lay claim to being the headquarters of a substantial postcard printing, publishing, and wholesale distribution operation. The enterprise, known as the Whitten & Dennison Post Card Company, emerged from Louis G. Whitten’s picture frame business, which was begun in West Bethel in 1907. Whitten soon took on his brother-in-law (and college chum) Charles P. Dennison as a partner in the operation and over the next three years the two men developed a highly successful postcard operation, which grew to employ several dozen employees—both villagers and others from nearby towns or places beyond who boarded locally.
Though the company continued for many years—it was eventually succeeded by the Messenger Corporation, which continues today—as far as the economic development of West Bethel is concerned, it was no more than a flash in the pan; it had picked up and moved to Indiana by the end of 1910. Nonetheless, the company left an indelible mark on the memory of the village. Although no one alive today was a direct witness to the operations, many West Bethel residents of the twentieth century could recall an ancestor who spent time working in the “parlors.” And, of course, the company left a significant paper trail in its wake: hundreds of examples of the company’s postcards from their time in West Bethel may be found on online auction sites or in museum catalogs.
But what conditions favored the rise of such a successful operation in the tiny village of West Bethel? The location was not deliberately scouted, nor were the proprietors particularly likely candidates for business tycoons. Family ties brought them to the village, where, alongside hard work, familiarity with the postal business, convenient access to a railroad depot, and especially good timing seem to have been the decisive factors.
Our story begins with Louis Gilman Whitten, who was born in Montville, Maine, in Waldo County, on March 10, 1873. He was the son of Charles W. and Rachel (Pottle) Whitten.1 His mother died when he was just five years old, after which he was raised by Edward and Olive Glidden of Liberty, Maine, and began using the name Louis Gilman Glidden. Liberty is adjacent to Montville, and was part of it until 1827, but exactly how Whitten ended up in the care of the Gliddens is not clear. If there is a familial link, it is not noted in Mrs. Glidden’s obituary, which simply lists Louis as one of “two young men brought up from childhood by her as her own.”2