At the age of 16, Carl Sliver rented his first bulldozer.
Seventy years later, he had a commercial empire that spanned from Florida to his native Fredericksburg, having built thousands of homes, won out against his longtime rival Sidney Shannon in building Central Park, and revitalized the Fredericksburg economy in a way unsurpassed by any of his predecessors.
Carl Silver is not a name you will hear lauded by the good ol’ boys in Fredericksburg. Caroline Street’s antique dealers will sigh heavily and lean back in their chairs, contrasting the Federal-era brick and mortar of Downtown Fredericksburg with the art deco of Central Park that has slowly crept into and around the old city.
Sad to say, as a Fredericksburg native, I never had the chance to personally meet Carl Silver. My mother and my uncles knew Larry Silver as they all attended James Monroe High School, and we all knew the Shannon family — a competing business and real estate developer whose story is intricately bound to that of Carl Silver’s empire. Shannon Green’s bulldozing and Central Park’s rise will always be one of the saddest chapters in the history of that rivalry.
Silver started small as a used car dealer, and like many local boys done good, Silver did not necessarily earn the respect of various institutions in Fredericksburg. City Council sparred with him, the Free Lance-Star sparred with him, Caroline Street sparred with him, Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington) sparred with him. Sidney Shannon — in whose will he demanded that none of his property be sold to Carl Silver — most certainly sparred with him.
In each instance, Silver co-0perated… and Fredericksburg prospered. The poor planning decisions of the 1970s and 1980s that turned Spotsylvania County into a purely bedroom community were ultimately reversed by the commercial development spearheaded by Carl Silver.
Few individuals can say they have left their mark in such a way. Two schools — Hugh Mercer and James Monroe — were built because of Carl Silver’s commercial legacy. Fredericksburg’s commercial success is centered around Carl Silver’s legacy. UMW’s James Monroe Graduate School is centered around Carl Silver’s legacy. These are the lasting monuments that show our free enterprise system does indeed have a heart — that when one person does well, a rising tide lifts all boats.
There will be no monuments to Carl Silver. The prosperity of the Fredericksburg area will be enough of a legacy to leave behind, and one man’s story rising from bulldozer operator to real estate empire can be threaded through the fabric of Fredericksburg’s history.
Not a bad legacy to leave.
