Greenbelt and her two sister-cities, Greendale in Michigan and Greenhills in Ohio, were built as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal program to get people employed through public works projects and to address the lack of affordable housing available during the Great Depression. These were some of the first planned communities in the U.S., with designs largely based on the garden cities of Europe. The town-houses were formed into “super blocks” where the buildings were placed on the perimeter of the block, allowing for a courtyard effect in the middle with lush gardens and lots of trees and playgrounds for the children.
