Greenbelt is one of three "green towns" built during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Administration. Although the primary purpose of these projects was to provide employment during the Great Depression, the green towns were also planned communities which would provide low-income families with economical housing in pleasant, healthy surroundings.
The Greenbelt experiment emphasized planning features which would foster community spirit. Within a half mile of all original homes, the town center with its stores and municipal offices became the focus of city life. In a 1984 article in Volume 9, Nos. 3 & 4 of Built Environment, Joseph L. Arnold found, "there is no question that the extremely high level of community and civic activity noticed by observers of Greenbelt during the 1937-53 era continues today and accounts for the large degree of success Greenbelters achieved in protecting their historic amenities from the tremendous pressures of land development . . ."
Selected in 1935, the Greenbelt site of over-worked farmland was bought at about $97 an acre by the U.S. Government. Groundbreaking was in October 1935 and the first residents arrived two years later. Complete town plans were drawn on paper before any construction began. Besides 574 masonry houses, 5 prefabricated houses, and 306 apartment units for residential housing; a school, town center with shops and theater, underpasses, walkways, parks, playgrounds, swimming pool, and a lake were also constructed.
The layout of Greenbelt was indicated by the natural contours of the land. The main streets, Ridge and Crescent, follow the curve of a horseshoe-shaped ridge. Cross streets divide the town into superblocks of about 14 acres (4-5 times the size of regular city blocks). Superblocks provide safety and economy by reducing the number of streets, driveways, and utility lines.
Many significant planning features were designed for original Greenbelt. Each home has a "gardenside" and a "serviceside". Deliveries, trash pick-up, etc. are reserved for the serviceside while a safe play and green area is provided on the gardenside. Pedestrian and inner walkways were built to achieve the goal of separation of pedestrian and automobile traffic. A permanent "green belt" of surrounding undeveloped land was another planning feature.
Eleanor Roosevelt often visited Greenbelt where she is remembered with a plaque which notes that "her continuing interest helped to make real the dream of an ideal community," A new Prince George's County high school with a science and technology center is located in Greenbelt and named after her. President Roosevelt who also visited Greenbelt said, "It is an experiment that ought to be copied by every community in the United States."
During World War II, the frame houses were built to provide housing for defense workers. Greenbelt's frame homes were one of 43 such housing projects throughout the country and were known as "defense" homes for quite some time.
In 1949, the U.S. Government decided to leave the housing business and sell the green towns giving preference to the residents and nonprofit veterans' groups. The Greenbelt Veteran Housing Corporation (changed to GHI in 1957) bought the original and defense homes from the Government in late 1952.
Cooperative ownership was chosen, in part, because such physical design features as the heating systems and water and sewer layouts made individual ownership impractical. Membership in the cooperative entails both rights and responsibilities. Members foster a stronger cooperative by
A GHl subsidiary, the Greenbelt Development Corporation, was established in 1953 to buy and manage two apartment buildlngs, 52 garages, and some undeveloped land. To encourage large families to remain in GHI, the membership authorized the construction of 4 free-standing homes and 25 larger townhouses in the late 1960's and early 1970's.
In July 1980, the cooperative initiated its rehabilitation project which benefited members by enhancing the efficiency, safety, and security of members' homes. The project included new windows, insulation, new siding or painting, new roofing and gutters, new plumbing fixtures, structural repairs, upgraded electrical service, and new individual heat and hot water systems. The approximately $18 million dollar project was the largest in-place rehab project in the Nation.
The concepts upon which the town was built -- community, efficiency, convenience, cooperation, and pleasant surroundings -- continue to be central themes of Greenbelt life.
-- From A Unique & Historic Community, brochure by Greenbelt Homes, Inc., pp 4,5 & 6, August 1985.
