Silvertown
Earle Sumner Draper, landscape architect and planner, designed Silvertown, the mill village that was constructed around Martha Mills. Silvertown was named after B.F. Goodrich’s hometown of Silvertown, England. Draper conceived mill villages as complete communities, unlike previous mill village designs, with tree-lined curving streets, sidewalks, parks, churches, and community centers. He persuaded the mill owners to add modern amenities such as plumbing and electricity to mill homes.
He previously had designed a small-scale example of a Garden-City and used these principles at Silvertown, excluding the greenbelt buffer around the village. Silvertown was eventually incorporated into the town of Thomaston. Draper was also a consultant for the new deals Green Belt Cities and designed master plans for Duke, Winthrop, and Vanderbilt.