During the “aughts” and early 2010s Kim and I both worked for a software development company called ATX Forms, Inc. — “Purveyors of fine government approved forms” and software for small to medium sized tax preparation businesses.

The software development, quality assurance, and other departments involved in building the application (originally written in VB6!) were based in Caribou, a small town in rural Maine. The development of the electronic tax forms with which the software worked was done separately at another ATX office in Ft. Pierce, Florida.

ATX Forms, Inc. — A Rural Phenomenon

For a business based in Aroostook County, ATX was a bit anomalous in its approach to office life. It was like a tiny piece of Silicon Valley had been transplanted into remote small town America. Razor scooters in the hallways, block parties in the summer, and a strong sense of community are what many people, including myself, remember from those days.

“ATXers”, a team moniker coined (I believe) by Glynn Willet, CEO, was the name given to represent a community that included both employees and customers — we all shared the same goal as ATXers.

The culture at ATX was one of hard work and long hours, especially during “tax season”, which was the time leading up to and immediately following the release of software updated for the current tax year. I remember Quality Assurance people wearing pajamas in their offices after midnight waiting for the next release candidate to be available for testing.

A large lobby at the front of the building featured pool and ping pong tables, Foosball and other amenities typical of fast-paced tech companies of the day.

The walls of the lobby were decorated with art picked out by the CEO’s spouse. The pieces brought a vibrant splash of color to otherwise bare painted white walls.

Pieces of the Past

Kim and I both grew a lot, personally and professionally, during our time at ATX. Our romance budded in that office building and here we are, 20 years and two kids later, still reminiscing now and again about “the good ole days” at ATX.

Things were never quite the same after the company was bought out and our jobs were moved to another part of the country. Afterwards, Kim retrained in social work and I picked up an IT job at a local health center.

When the office closed (somewhere between 2011 and 2012) and things were being packed up, Kim asked the maintenance crew if she could bring home the brightly colored canvases.

They agreed, so she grabbed as many as she could fit in the car and brought them home. They’ve been hanging around our house ever since.

Every once in a while Kim will upload a photo to social media and one of these paintings will be visible in the background. Inevitably, an ATXer will comment on the photo and ask if these are in fact the same paintings from the ATX days.

According to Google image search and ChatGPT, these are scenes of Haitian markets in a style known as Naïve Art.

Long after ATX closed its doors, the colors of those days still live with us.