Last summer, each time I went to Northville, I would look to see the progress being made on a large mural by a young, talented artist by the name of Isabella Cox. She painted the mural on a large white wall of a building belonging to The Allen and Palmer Hardware store in Northville, NY. Allen and Palmer Hardware is a business that has a very long history. That storied history is now depicted in the impressive mural that she painstakingly painted.

Mural panels painted by Isabella Cox depicting the history of Northville and the The Allen and Palmer Hardware store

A little background on The Allen and Palmer Hardware Store…

The company was founded in 1870 by a Civil War Veteran named Edwin Allen and his partner, Northville native, Andrew Palmer. It has been an important business in Northville ever since it first opened. It has always been the place to go for hardware or services in town. Besides hardware, locals depend on Allen and Palmer for all types of services, such as plumbing, heating and air conditioning, well pump installation, and many other services.

Recently, long-time owners, Shawn Darling and Lee Robinson who had owned and operated Allen and Palmer since 1997 and offered excellent service to their customers, sold the business to Dominick Cox and Christian Klug. The new owners have been expanding the business. One of those expansions was to purchase another building to offer more services. On one side of that building is the huge white wall that became a perfect canvas for the mural.

I sat down with Isabella Cox to ask her about her work and especially her work on the mural.

Isabella is a 19-year-old college student. She attends Gordon College in Massachusetts and is majoring in art. After college, she plans to move to Boston and get a job to support herself while she follows her true passion which is painting. She has done art since she was a child. Her parents recognized her passion and talent and encouraged her to follow her dream. Her talent is on full display in the mural. To capture the history of Allen and Palmer, Ms. Cox did extensive research through The Northville Historical Society. There are a few portraits in the Mural that depict some of the owners of the business throughout its long history. The buildings that housed the business are also depicted. She started with story boards to have a design for the piece and from there she worked diligently through the summer to complete the painting. Isabella said that each panel took about two weeks to complete but since she had another job, it took her the entire summer to finish. Isabella told me that she loved doing the mural. She also said that locals would stop by to talk to her about the mural and the hardware store. Some remembered much about the business and were anxious to talk about the history. There is a little boy in one of the panels and some folks told Isabella that they remembered him, as they were children at the same time as he was.

As we talked about her work, Isabella told me that she loves the process of creating paintings, but her favorite part is when she gives her paintings to the person they were inteznded for. She says it is a way for her to give back to people, and that is what gives her joy.

If you are in Northville, be sure to stop at Allen and Palmer in the center of town and see this talented young artist’s work. It is quite impressive.