Greenbelt Laundry Rules and Regulations



When a family moved to Greenbelt, they were given the Greenbelt Manual, a book of rules and regulations for the citizens of Greenbelt to follow. The book was issued by the community manager Roy S.Braden. The rules and regulations in the manual covered a variety of subjects, including how high to keep hedges, where to keep the trash cans and cars, who could wear shorts, and even when the laundry could be hung. In theory, these rules served as a means of community betterment. In practice, they were another method to regulate the people of Greenbelt and prevent the "deterioration" of the community, the government's "green" experiment. The following excerpt from the Greenbelt manual describes the guidelines concerning the washing and hanging laundry.

In the row house units clothesline poles are provided at the service side of in the rear of the homes. All laundry, including bathing suits, must be removed from these lines, and each rope lines taken down, not later than 4pm each afternoon, with the exception of Sundays, when no clothing or bedding of any kind is permitted on the lines from midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday. Bathing suits may be dried after 4pm by placing on the grass. In case of rainy or stormy weather, residents may leave their laundry on the lines after 4pm. Wire lines may be left up permanently if they are drawn tightly, so as not to sag. In the event it is more convenient for persons to was at night, they may do so if they don't hang their clothes on lines before 10pm. The apartment house units have complete laundry equipment in the basement. Please notice the regulation posted in the laundry rooms concerning its use. Apartment house residents are not permitted to dry or air clothing on the porches in such a way that it can be seen from the street. 1

Greenbelt was designed as a "healthy and pleasant" place for low-income families to raise children. The idea was to have a community surrounded by parks, playgrounds, and trees. As a result, the front of the house faced the "green" spaces, while the back faced the street. The poles to hang clothes were found in the back of the house, just a few feet from the street. Because of this placement, those driving through Greenbelt could see the laundry hanging up to dry. To avoid this "unattractive appearance," laundry had to be taken down before 4pm. As one might imagine, this laundry rule was met deep resentment from some of the women of the community and harsh criticism from the Washington newspapers. On November 24, 1937, a letter, published in the editor's section of the Greenbelt Cooperator, confronted the issue of hanging clothes out to dry and sparked a debate that lasted for years. The letter had originally been left in Mr. Braden's mail slot. SALLY RAND, an unidentified female of the community wrote,

Dr. Mr. Braden:

You have gained the reputation of kindly helping to solve the various problems of the residents of Greenbelt. I am confronted with a rather serious one, but was a little undetermined whether to seek the advice of you or Dorothy Dix. Someone told me that you have lived in a house before, and maybe Dorothy, like myself, has always lived in apartments, in case she wouldn't;t know the answer, so I decided to ask your paternal advice.

I don't know what to do about my brazen out-door clothesline; it is so public out there in the great open spaces. I've always dried my little tid-bits of intimate apparel on the towel rack in the bath-room; but this public display makes me feel as if I were doing a strip-tease act for the benefit of all the town men of Greenbelt...I could imagine the passer-by discussing each item, and perhaps saying, "Well, imagine her wearing those" or "Don't you suppose she wears _____________?"

What I want to know is: will time soften my embarrassment ; will I become hardened by this intimate display; or had I better give it up and go back to the bathroom clotheslines? Your advice will be most deeply appreciated.


Modestly yours, SALLY RAND2


Courtesy of the Washington Herald

When the women of the community were asked how they felt about having their undergarments displayed, some felt that the whole situation was ridiculous. "Why be ashamed to be seen hanging up one's unmentionables? We were embarrassed at first, but we got over it." However, the Washington Herald, the newspaper who reported the story, claimed that these same women were still hanging their underware at night. The other half of the women surveyed felt the same as SALLY RAND, "we just can't get used to the idea of having men watch us hanging our stockings and teddies." Mr Braden's response to the whole situation was that the women would "get over their commendable shyness."3 Some residents, however, did find ways to get around the embarrassment. Ann Neville's family, residents from 1942-50, hung woman's undergarments in the bathroom tub on a wooden clothes dryer.4 Another letter appeared in the July 27, 1938 edition of the Cooperator which called for the reconsideration of the days that laundry could be hung. In her letter to the editor, Vivian M. Liswell asked if laundry could be hung seven days a week, but brought in before the 4 pm curfew hour.

Seriously Mr. Braden, won't you reconsider the clothing question? I fully realize each and every one must work together to keep Greenbelt beautiful. And rules and regulations are made to our benefit. But why can't we hang our things outside providing that they are brought in by the curfew hour? (4pm) No Sunday washes and no Saturday afternoon washes.)5


The Washington area papers also criticized the laundry act in Greenbelt. The Washington Herald, for one, issued repeated attacks against the community's "utopia" ideal. In one article that appeared in the the February 18, 1939 issue the Herald called for "housewives ...to look at their P's and Q's or they would find themselves in trouble with the law." There were municipal policemen who paid daily visits to the housewives of the community and gave them "friendly warnings." The article also suggested that "perhaps the radiator would finish what the sun wouldn't do."6 In another article, the Herald also published this photo of Mrs. Roosevelt visiting the community and seeing all of the dirty laundry. Notice that it is completely staged. The laundry pole through the middle of the photo serves as the uniting element of two separate photographs.


The caption at the bottom of the photo reads,
"The washlines of Greenbelt received recognition from high places yesterday when Mrs. Roosevelt paid a surprise visit to the nearby housing project. This exclusive photo shows the First Lady during her tour of the town, passing a line on which, it so happened, flapped none of the feminine underthings which made news recently. Lady residents of Greenbelt had complained that they were just too embarrassed to hang their undies in such public view."7


Methods of Washing

Soaps and Detergents

Doing Laundry

Selected Bibliography