As part of the Town of Bovina’s Bicentennial Celebration, Brooke Alderson enlisted a group of ten local artists to create paintings of Bovina Landmarks. The artists were invited to paint their own interpretations of photographs of different Bovina buildings that are no longer in existence or have been altered. The resulting ten paintings were mounted on easels by Brooke and Scott Hill and were displayed throughout the hamlet during the Celebration at the site where the original structure stood (or still stands).
Over the next few months, I will be doing a series of entries highlighting the buildings and the paintings. The paintings are on display at the Bovina Public Library, where you can order prints of any that catch your fancy for $80, all proceeds going to the library. And stay tuned for an auction of the original works being planned for this fall.
Hilson’s Store, painted by Mike Casey
On August 15, 1867, Andrew T. Strangeway recorded in his diary "Very rainy today…we went to Brushland to the Raisin[g] of John Hilsons Store.”
Hilson’s Store stayed in the family through multiple generations. The original Hilson, John Hilson, sometimes referred to “Old Jock” in later life, came to America from the Scottish borders region in 1850 when he was 23 years old. He opened his store in 1867. The store passed to his son Alexander in 1889. Alexander ran the store until 1915, serving for much of that time also as the Bovina Center postmaster. When he retired, he turned it over to his sons John and James Hilson. The firm became Hilson Brothers. The brothers ran the store into the 1950s. John’s sons, Alex and Jack, took over the store, with some help from their Uncle Jim.
Gas lights were installed in the store in 1900. A new ceiling and new counters were installed in 1906. The Hilson Brothers in 1920 installed a Delco Lighting plant to light the store and the residences of John Hilson and his father Alexander. In 1928, further changes were made to the store, including digging a cellar underneath to install a furnace.
The grocery store closed in the 1970s. The brothers continued to operate it as a hardware store into the 1980s but found that as the number of farmers declined so did demand from anything in the store. So, in 1986 the store was closed, and the contents auctioned off. The store is slated to become the Dry Town Tavern.
Michael Frank Casey
b.1952 Pearl City, HI (.75 hrs after Patrick Charles Casey)
1973 BFA – Museum Art School Portland, OR
1974 Co-Founder - Purple Daggers Gallery Portland, OR
1979 Married - Susan Anne Yelavich
1984 Son Born - Henry Theodore Casey
1987 Home Purchased - 1784 Main Street, Bovina Center, NY
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