The Community Basis of Greenbelt, MD

The Greenbelt Community center was the meeting place for most organizations.

The city of Greenbelt, Maryland was one of three Green Towns to be built during the Roosevelt administration in April of 1935 (Greenbelt Chronicles, p.1). The idea behind these Green Towns was to have a planned community centered around grassy natural spaces to make the suburb a nicer place to live. This planned community idea brought about many organizations in order to have groups of involved people who lived in Greenbelt and also a way of interacting with one's fellow neighbors.
The sense of community was very important to the citizens of Greenbelt. They wanted to be chosen to live in this area due to the emphasis on community living and interaction. An illustration of their first official get together occurred just about a month and a half after the first five families moved into Greenbelt and it was a Halloween Celebration for the town on October 30, 1937 (ibid, pg.1). From that point on, every organization you could possibly think of at that time began pouring into the neighborhood. A few months after this town party, there were so many organizations in Greenbelt that the town had to publish its own list of exactly what organizations were there. This list was entitled, "Directory of Greenbelt Organizations."
The "Directory of Greenbelt Organizations" was developed for three major reasons by the Cooperative Organization Committee:

1) The Committee was anxious to work with the leaders and members of the active community organizations within Greenbelt by becoming acquainted with the purposes and memberships of the groups.
2) They wanted both new and old residents who desired being a part of community activities to have a way of knowing what organizations already existed and who to contact if they wanted to join.
3) It offered an opportunity for all of the organizations to combine their efforts in order to create that "compact community character so necessary in a town the size and nature of Greenbelt" (ibid., p.1).
This directory proved to be one of the most useful tools to the citizens of Greenbelt due to their desire to be involved in the community.

The directory was divided into eight categories. These were as follows: Churches and Church Organizations, Council of Town of Greenbelt, Cooperative Organizations, Women's Organizations, Men's Organizations, Recreational Organizations, The Greenbelt Players, and Youth Organizations. I will be analyzing four of these categories: Church and Church Organizations, Council of Town of Greenbelt, Women's Organizations, and Youth Organizations.

For more information on Greenbelt, MD, visit the Virtual Greenbelt site. Return To April's Home Page
Churches and Church Organizations
Council of the Town of Greenbelt
Women's Organizations
Youth Organizations
Conclusion
References