Gibbsboro, New Jersey

Gibbsboro is a small South Jersey borough whose existence traces entirely to one factory. In the nineteenth century, John Lucas and partners built a paint works on the shores of Silver Lake, drawn by the purity of the local water. The paint works grew into a major employer.

The plant later became part of Sherwin-Williams and eventually closed, leaving a Superfund cleanup site where the vats once stood. The borough was incorporated in nineteen twenty-four, built around, and long outlasted, its paint.