Greenbelt Bug

To visit as many historical cities and towns in the USA, especialy, the 3 "Greenbelt towns... Greendale, WI; Greenbelt, MD; Greenhills, OH. As this bug travels from town to town, please add a "memento" (ie: postcard, keychain, etc...) to the bug's dogtag chain.

This travel bug is being launched in my birthplace, the Village of Greendale, WI. My great-grandparents were one of the very first settlers in this community on 1938.

Greendale had its beginnings in 1936 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture began construction of three new communities known as the Greenbelt towns. Besides Greendale, the other two towns were Greenbelt, Maryland, and Greenhills, Ohio.

In starting this program during the Depression years, the Resettlement Administration had three main objectives in mind:

1.) To demonstrate a new kind of suburban community planning which would combine many of the advantages of both city and country life.

2.) To provide good housing at reasonable rents for moderate income families.

3.) To give jobs to thousands of unemployed workers on work which would result in a lasting economic and social benefit to the community in which the work was undertaken.

To achieve all of these purposes, the government bought 3400 acres of farm land three miles southwest of the city limits of Milwaukee. Here the community was laid out with a "Greenbelt" of parkland, garden areas and farms encircling the entire so-called urban development.

In the center is the business district; nearby, at the end of the wide center thoroughfare, is the village administrative offices, just as when the village was opened for business in 1938.

Greendale was originally developed by the government with the intent to provide homes for families of an income level that would preclude their living in a suburban setting. The requirements for renting included an income within the range $1200 to $2700 annually, a housing need, reliability in financial matters, cleanliness in living habits, and suitable size of family for available living units. When the size of a family changed, they had to move to the appropriate living unit.

There were 572 living units housed in 366 buildings when the village was opened for occupancy on May 1, 1938. Nearly all were of two stories, except for the so-called "Honeymooners". All homes had concrete foundations, cincrete (a type of cinder) block walls, and either lightweight tile or slate shingle roofs. A utility room, containing the coal fired furnace and laundry facilities, took the place of a basement. The first floor was finished with asphalt tile on a 2 1/2" concrete slab, supported by precast concrete joists. The second floor was of 7/8" oak or maple. The living room had a beamed ceiling of 8 inch ponderosa pine, with the wood sub floor of the floor above serving as its ceiling finish.