Conceived in 1937 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, Greenbelt was designed to provide housing for Depression-era families in an environment that emphasized green spaces, community involvement, and good quality of life. The new community boasted a town center with shopping, recreational facilities (including the first public swimming pool in Maryland), and schools. Those amenities were accessed easily from any of the homes via walkways and underpasses. The homes themselves were arranged into “superblocks” that provided courtyards and playgrounds for the children. The whole was buffered from future development by a green belt.

Greenbelt was a social experiment. The first families were chosen not only on the basis of income but also for their willingness to be active participants in the new community. Upon arriving in Greenbelt, they found no established patterns or institutions of community life. Within six weeks, they held their first election. The new residents also worked together to form community groups and cooperative institutions. Some of those original elements still operate and thrive today—the original homes that now are part of Greenbelt Homes Incorporated, a nursery school, a newspaper, and a grocery store.

The original section of Greenbelt was declared a National Historic Landmark on its 60th anniversary in 1997. The planning concepts that went into the creation of Greenbelt still garner national and international interest and are evident in today’s planned communities such as Columbia in Maryland and Reston in Virginia.

The community spirit that made the Greenbelt experiment such a success is still very much in existence. Greenbelt continues to flourish and now includes neighborhoods to the east and west of the original community. It has numerous office and retail facilities and nationally recognized schools, all attracted by easy access to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore via major highways and a Metro rail station.