Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
George E. Whiten was one of Orillia’s earliest photographers and this cabinet photo of an unknown man, with the promotional advertising on the reverse, gives credit to his successful career in Orillia.
He was born in Streetsville in 1849, and as a young man moved around a lot learning the trade in photography shops in Barrie, Meaford, Clarksburg and Cookstown.
In 1874, at the age of 23, he settled in Orillia and opened a studio with his brother-in-law under the firm name of Whiten and Naylor. He bought out Naylor the next year and continued to prosper for the next 20 years at his location on the north side of Mississaga Street, a few doors west of Front Street.
Whiten was one of the most outstanding oarsmen and rifle shots of the day. In 1879, at the International Regatta held in Barrie, he broke a world record with a time of 17 minutes, 15 seconds, using an 18-foot boat in a two-mile race.
He was also very active in community affairs and was elected to council for two terms in 1878, representing the north ward. In 1895, Whiten formed a partnership with B. Frank Stewart who was married to his daughter.
A few years later George Whiten left Orillia, moving several times before finally settling in Vernon B.C. where he died in 1934. The Stewart family continued in the photography business for almost 100 years in downtown Orillia.
