New Deal City

Even the Real DC Metro Map thinks this station should be named after the thing that brought it into existence. Greenbelt’s history dates back to 1934 and the work of the Resettlement Administration, a New Deal organization that sought to relocate struggling families to government planned cities. Rexford Tugwell, who headed the organization, hoped that these developments would both increase employment and offer relief for the housing shortage. He chose three locations across the country to develop: Green Hills, Ohio; Greendale, Wisconsin; and Greenbelt, Maryland (Greenbelt being the first community built). If you’ve noticed a common theme between these cities, it was intentional. In Tugwell’s vision of these communities, he wished for “a garden city surrounded by a greenbelt of trees and open spaces.”