Greenbelt Homes, Incorporated (GHI) is the

housing cooperative A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity which owns real estate consisting of one or more residential buildings. The entity is usually a cooperative or a corporation and constitutes a form of housing tenure. Typically hou ...

Greenbelt, Maryland Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,921. Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental ...

, comprising the original houses built by the U.S. Federal Government in 1936 during the administration of

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

as part of the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

, as well as additional defense housing built in 1941 by the

Farm Security Administration The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was a New Deal agency created in 1937 to combat rural poverty during the Great Depression in the United States. It succeeded the Resettlement Administration (1935–1937). The FSA is famous for its small but ...

, and smaller numbers of homes built later. With 1,600 homes, GHI forms the core of Old Greenbelt, and a large portion of the

Greenbelt Historic District The Greenbelt Historic District is a national Historic district (United States), historic district located in Greenbelt, Maryland, Greenbelt, Prince George's County, Maryland, Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The district pres ...

Founding

The Greenbelt community incorporated many design elements that were innovative at the time; these included: curvilinear street patterns, the super block, the separation of pedestrian walkways and the street system, and the organization of neighborhoods around elementary schools.

Rexford Tugwell Rexford Guy Tugwell (July 10, 1891 – July 21, 1979) was an American economist who became part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's first " Brain Trust", a group of Columbia University academics who helped develop policy recommendations leading up to ...

, Chief of the Resettlement Administration and a close confidante of Roosevelt, advocated for the approval of the Greenbelt Town Program to the president. Once it was approved, Tugwell appointed John S. Lansill to oversee the project and Frerick Bigger as the architect, and hired construction workers in the Baltimore-Washington area. When the Greenbelt community was built and expanded, the property belonged to the Federal Government, and residents paid rent. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, residents anticipated that the town would be sold. An association of 1,400 residents was formed to buy it, but the remaining 450 tenants hoped the government would continue to subsidize their rent. In 1949, Congress mandated the town be sold, and the sale occurred in 1952. Membership in the Greenbelt Veterans Housing Corporation—predecessor of GHI—consisted of just over 50% veterans, as required by Congress. GVHC gave residents one year to begin making purchase payments or move out. As a result of his involvement with the project, GVHC attorney and Greenbelt resident Abraham Chasanow lost his

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

job as a target of

McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...

, but was later cleared of all charges. In 1957, the membership voted to rename the Greenbelt Veterans Housing Corporation to Greenbelt Homes, Inc.

In popular culture

The town and residences which were to become GHI were the subject of the 1939 documentary film '' The City''. The story of the

persecution of Abraham Chasanow, one of the founders of the Greenbelt Veterans Housing Corporation, was documented in the movie ''

Three Brave Men ''Three Brave Men'' is a 1956 American drama film directed by Philip Dunne and starring Ray Milland, Ernest Borgnine and Frank Lovejoy. The film was based on real-life events arising in Greenbelt, Maryland,Knepper, Cathy D. ''Greenbelt, Maryla ...

'', starring

Ray Milland Ray Milland (born Alfred Reginald Jones; 3 January 1907 – 10 March 1986) was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's ''The Lost Weekend'' (1945), which wo ...

and

Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine ( ; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular perf ...

Gallery

Image:Greenbelt-md-USA-1937-03.jpg, Aerial view of Greenbelt under construction, March 1937.

References

External links

*
Virtual Greenbelt from the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland

Greenbelt Museum

"New Deal City"
''Mother Jones''

Founding

In popular culture

Gallery

References

External links

Further reading