What is now the Hendricks-Patton Furniture & Appliance store in Athens was founded in 1945. Roy Patton said his grandfather started a plumbing and electrical business with his first cousin, who ran a lumber company.

“As the members of the military were all coming back from the war, they had to have housing,” Patton said. “Athens Lumber Company was building houses, and my grandfather was doing the plumbing and electrical. Then, he moved into selling appliances like washers, dryers, stoves and refrigeration. He was successful with the Frigidaire brand. My dad (Bucky) started into furniture.”

Roy Patton said his grandfather liked purple and was well-known for having the walls of his business and even his company trucks painted in the color. Roy said everyone in town knew the business as the purple store, and everyone knew who those purple trucks belonged to.

Purple, which Roy Patton said is his favorite color and can even be found on the walls of his dining room, can still be found on the wooden sideboards of the company trucks. He said it became too expensive to paint the actual trucks in the 1980s.

“If you go to Sherwin-Williams or Hyatt & Sims (in Athens) and ask for that color, they refer to it as Hendricks-Patton purple,” Patton said.

The purple door

Last week, High Cotton Arts volunteer Kathy Shafer presented Bucky Patton with a watercolor painting of the store’s iconic purple door. The door is part of the Hendricks-Patton loading dock in the back alley behind the store. But how did something so simple as a loading dock door become so well-known in the area?

Roy Patton said, in his opinion, it was about 10 years ago, when digital photography was becoming more popular and photographers began switching from taking photos in studios to outdoor locations.

It was during this time that the purple door was discovered, and over time, it became a popular backdrop for things like senior portraits and engagement photos. He said the door is painted every so often to help keep it from rotting, as it is a part of the original store.

“Photographers love the purple when it fades a bit and starts peeling out,” Patton said. “We painted it a baby blue or pink color back in the ’90s, and that didn’t work out, so we went back to purple.”

He said there is even an art teacher from Madison County who brings his students to the store to study its architecture. There is also another door that used to be purple but has been painted a rust color in order to provide photographers some variety.

Patton said the rust-colored door even made its way into a photo featured in an Alabama Shakes album.

“I think it’s neat,” he said. “I’ll look at pictures on Facebook and I’ll go, ‘Wait, I know that door.’ Or people will tag me with the door in the background. Everyone is welcome to use them so long as they take care of everything back there.”

Patton said the door is something he and the other store employees take for granted because they walk in and out of it every day. However, he said he enjoys having others look at the door as a piece of art.