Our first SMM exhibit is an exploration of America's New Deal-era Greenbelt Towns, with special emphasis on their innovative central city shopping facilities. These "Commercial Centers" were integral in the development of the American shopping mall, as we came to know it. By 1982, the peak year for mall-type complexes in the United States, there were over 2,500. These had been developed, in cities large and small, from coast-to-coast and border-to-border. 

The Greenbelt Towns movement, set in motion by the Roosevelt administration, was the brainchild of Rexford Guy Tugwell, an economist and member of FDR's "Brain Trust" of advisors. Tugwell was instrumental in the creation of the Resettlement Administration, in April 1935. This entity would move struggling urban and rural families into new "low income" planned communities.

All units in the Resettlement Administration's green suburbs were originally rentals. Most shopping center businesses were co-operatives, which were owned and operated by citizens. 

In order for his family to be eligible for a home in one of America's up-and-coming green communities, a father would have to earn between $1,440 and $2,200 annually. Wives were not allowed to work. Moreover, minorities were excluded. 

Green suburbs were a political football from the moment that ground was broken...or even before. Conservatives derided them as a socialist -or even communist- endeavor. The program was ruled unconstitutional by a court case decided in May 1936. 
  
Rex Tugwell resigned his position as RA head in December 1936. The Resettlement Administration was absorbed into the Department of Agriculture in January 1937. A new bureau was formed, the Farm Security Administration.

Although deemed unconstitutional, three green communities were completed. They would be owned and operated by the federal government until the passage of a Congressional bill in 1949, which made provisions for all three cities to be sold to private enterprise. In a majority of cases, tenants ended up buying residential units that they had been renting.

America's Greenbelt Towns came about as an extrapolation of urban planning concepts put forward by Great Britain's Sir Ebenezer Howard. In his book "To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform" (1898), the bucolic utopian "Garden City" was envisaged.
Graphic from "Greenbelt Towns" brochure / US Government Printing Office / 1936

According to Howard, people should be residing in communities that combined the best of town and country life. Green suburbs, surrounded by a permanent belt of forested land, would eschew many of the pitfalls of city life, such as poverty, overcrowding, low wages, inadequate sanitation, pollution and disease. In many ways, these trend-setting communities espoused the tenets of today's "New Urbanism" movement. 
Photo from Wikipedia / "Marnanel"

Letchworth, the first of Ebenezer Howard's Garden Cities, was started -in Hertfordshire County, Great Britain- in 1903. Across the pond, Radburn, New Jersey, America's prototype garden suburb, broke ground in 1929. Seen above is the Radburn Plaza Building; commercial center of the Bergen County planned city.
Photo from Library of Congress / Carl Mydans

Under the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the federal government got involved in urban planning. 100 newly-built green suburbs were originally envisaged. The competition was narrowed to twenty-five urban areas and, then, to just four. The final selections were Greenbelt, Maryland {outside Washington, DC}, Greenhills, Ohio {outside Cincinnati}, Greendale, Wisconsin {outside Milwaukee} and Greenbrook, New Jersey {outside New York City}. In mid-1936, the Greenbrook plan was dropped.

Rexford G. Tugwell, who was instrumental in the creation of America's green suburbs. Browbeaten by conservative detractors, he resigned from his federal post in late 1936.
Photo from Wikipedia 

A photo-op groundbreaking was held in June 1935 at the Greenbelt, Maryland site. Land clearing was soon underway, with actual construction commencing in October of the same year.
Photo from Library of Congress / Elmer Johnson

The Regional Plan for the Greenbelt project. The city would occupy a 3,400-acre site in Maryland's Prince George's County. There would be 885 units, housing over 3,000 residents.
Graphic from Library of Congress / 1936

The Regional Plan for Greenhills envisaged a community in Ohio's Hamilton County. It would be comprised of 6,800 acres, with 676 housing units. The population of the fully-occupied city was 2,600.
Graphic from Library of Congress / 1936

Greendale's Regional Plan foresaw a Milwaukee County community sited on 3,400 acres and featuring 572 residential units. When finished, the garden suburb boasted a population of 2,800.
Graphic from Library of Congress / 1936

Each of the three green suburbs were designed and built by an individual staff of city planners, architects and engineers. 

The architects of the Greenhills project study a wall-sized plan of their city-to-be.
Photo from Library of Congress / Theodor Jung

In this Greenhills image, we see that heavy equipment grading is in progress.
Photo from Library of Congress / Theodor Jung

The Ultimate Plan for Greenbelt, Maryland shows the orientation of the garden city, with residential "Superblocks" surrounding the "Commercial Center" and "Community Building" (which would house a school and public library).
Graphic from Library of Congress / 1936

A snapshot from the summer of 1936 shows that construction at Greenbelt is well underway.
Photo from Library of Congress / Carl Mydans

Officials of the government's Resettlement Administration (RA) pose for a photo at the Greenbelt site in June 1936.
Photo from Library of Congress / Carl Mydans

Rex Tugwell (in white) was head of the Resettlement Administration when this photo was taken, in June 1936. He would resign in December. 
Photo from Library of Congress / Carl Mydans

10,600 WPA (Works Progress Administration) laborers were employed in the construction of America's three green suburbs between 1935 and 1940. Here we see a group of Greenbelt workers lined up for paychecks. The going rate was 15 cents per hour, with most workers earning at least $3 per week.
Photo from Library of Congress / Carl Mydans

Laying cinder block in Greenbelt, August 1936.
Photo from Library of Congress / Carl Mydans

A second Greenbelt construction image, this also from August 1936.
Photo from Library of Congress / Carl Mydans

Construction at the Greenhills site commenced in December 1935. By February 1937, much has been accomplished.
Photo from Library of Congress / Russell Lee

A laborer is seen laying hardwood floors in a Greenhills housing unit. 
Photo from Library of Congress / Russell Lee

Another February 1937 snapshot shows plumbers installing a boiler in the basement of a Greenhills housing unit. Various home models in Greenhills and Greenbelt had cellars. There were no basements built in Greendale. 
Photo from Library of Congress / Russell Lee   

Work got underway -in earnest- at the Greendale site in May 1936. A March 1937 photo shows a group of the city's prospective housing units.
Photo from Library of Congress / Russell Lee

In an aerial view from January 1938, we see the emerging downtown of Greenhills. The "commercial center" (a.k.a. GREENHILLS CENTER) is seen in the top of the photo.
Photo from Library of Congress 

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited the DC-adjacent Greenbelt site at least twice. The first tour took place in November 1936. A subsequent visit was undertaken in February 1937, and is shown in the image above, as well as in the photo that follows. 
Photo from Library of Congress 

Reputedly, FDR was "very impressed" with the up-and-coming garden city.
Photo from Library of Congress 

The First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, visited the Greenbelt and Greendale town sites during 1936 and 1937. She was also directly involved in the planning of the Greenbelt project. About Greendale, she was quoted as saying "I wish  that every group of architects would have a woman sit at their elbows to give advice on such minor details as the proper placing of things which she uses in daily work."
Photo from Library of Congress 

Above we have a circa-1936 floor plan of a three-unit Greenbelt apartment building. On the left is its "Honeymoon Unit," with a single bedroom. The typical rent for such an abode would run from between $18-$25 a month for an apartment, and between $28-$41 a month for an individual house. In 1939, the typical green suburb family were paying around 90 cents per month for water and $3 per month for electricity.
Drawing from Library of Congress

Prospective housing designs for the Greenhills project. In all of the three planned cities, homes had a "service side" (for automobile access, deliveries, utility meters and garbage collection), and "garden side," which would open on a central green space. 
Drawing from Library of Congress

In this image we see a "Superblock" and adjoining cul-de-sac units from the Greenhills development. The Superblock was devised for Radburn, New Jersey in the late 1920s. With this concept, all housing faces inward, and surrounds a central green space. 
Drawing from Library of Congress

Originally, all pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the green suburbs was to be separated. This would be done using paved foot paths and pedestrian underpasses at major roadway intersections. However, building budgets tightened with various cost overruns. A system of pedestrian underpasses was only built in Greenbelt. The Greenhills and Greendale projects had to settle for guarded crosswalks along their foot path networks.
Photo from Library of Congress / Arthur Rothstein

Exteriors of completed Greenbelt housing units are shown in this image, and the one that follows. The date, November 1936.
Photo from Library of Congress / Arthur Rothstein

Garages were provided for half of the homes built in the three green suburbs.
Photo from Library of Congress / Arthur Rothstein

An image showing the interior of the Greenbelt Model Home, circa-November 1936. One could assume that the canine seen here was included as a homage to "Fala," the Roosevelt's Scottish Terrier. However, this photo was taken 4 years before he was born.
Photo from Library of Congress / Arthur Rothstein

A "Greenbelter" kitchen, also from November 1936.
Photo from Library of Congress / Arthur Rothstein

In this snapshot -and the three that follow- the Greendale Model Home is displayed, circa-March 1937. In the beginning, Scandinavian-style furniture was to be sold along with rental units in Greendale. Budget cuts put a stop to this...but furniture was offered for sale at the other two green suburbs.
Photo from Library of Congress / Russell Lee

In Greendale abodes, first level floors were tiled. Upstairs, floors were hardwood. As seen here, there were no living room ceilings on the first floor. The bottom side of the upstairs floor was left exposed.   
Photo from Library of Congress / Russell Lee

A "Greendaler" kitchen. A single-bowl sink and electric range were provided.
Photo from Library of Congress / Russell Lee

A refrigerator also came with each Greendale home. Apparently, it is sitting behind the photographer, out of view of the camera.
Photo from Library of Congress / Russell Lee

One, two, three and four-bedroom units were available at the Greendale project.
Photo from Library of Congress / Russell Lee

The first green suburb tenants move in! James Ashley and Family, newly of Greenbelt, are seen having their first dinner, on October 2, 1937.
Photo from Library of Congress / Harris & Ewing

Tenants would begin occupying Greenhills and Greendale housing units in April and May of 1938. In this snapshot, and the three that follow, we are shown the Greenhills Model Home. The date, January 1938.
Photo from Library of Congress

Rooms in Greenhills homes were somewhat larger than those in the Greenbelt and Greendale units.
Photo from Library of Congress

As in Greendale, the Greenhills kitchen came equipped with single-bowl sink, an electric range and refrigerator. The same was true in Greenbelt.
Photo from Library of Congress

The "Greenhiller" bedroom for the year 1938.
Photo from Library of Congress

There were restrictions enforced on all green community residents. Nails could not be driven in walls, no outdoor radio antennae were permitted and no laundry could be hung out to dry on Sunday. Monday through Saturday, all clothes lines had to be cleared by 4 pm.
Photo from Library of Congress / John Vachon

By September 1939, construction was winding down at America's new green suburbs. This Greendale street scene shows a Superblock of individual houses. The "Dale" development consisted mainly of separate houses, like these. The "Belt" and "Hills" cities were composed mostly of multiple-dwelling structures. 
Photo from Library of Congress / John Vachon

Also from the fall of 1939, we have a Greendale sidewalk scene. Notice a barn and silo far off in the distance.
Photo from Library of Congress / John Vachon

A sidewalk scene from October 1939 finds a new family of "Greenhillers" moving in.
Photo from Library of Congress / John Vachon