* Employment And The Construction of Greenbelt *

Greenbelt, Maryland was a planned community once owned by the federal government. Coming off of the 1929 stock market crash and immediately entering the Great Depression had detrimental effects to the United States employment. Thus, the greenbelt program was introduced to provide "work relief, low-cost housing, long term community planning, and subsistence farming" (Greenbelt). Consequently, the Federal Emergency Relief Appropriation Act was passed in 1935 to implement these such goals. Co-existing at this time was the Resettlement Administration and the Work Progress Administration, which also contributed to reducing the high unemployment level. As mentioned in Katie's Project, the five member non partisan Council conducted legislation for the welfare, health, safety, and improvement of Greenbelt. The city manager, appointed by this Council, hired municipal employees based on their professional background and qualifications. In addition, the federal government helped to put women to work in Greenbelt, especially during World War II. (see George's Project).
The construction of Greenbelt, Maryland led to the domino theory of employment. In simplistic terms, engineers were hired to design the layout of the proposed town. Next, both skilled and unskilled workers were brought in to build the town the engineers had designed. The production of the town led to the opening of many businesses which, in turn, hired staff of their own. Thus, the construction of Greenbelt was an effective maneuver to reduce the high unemployment rate while simultaneously creating a beautiful environment.


Groundbreaking for Greenbelt, Maryland took place on October 12, 1935. By this time, the first set of laborers were already allocated. Two days after groundbreaking, the Works Progress administration (WPA) sent eight hundred workers from Washington to the construction site. At this time, however, the construction plans were not yet sent. Thus, the WPA provided other projects for the laborers to perform. After all, the purpose of Greenbelt was to reduce unemployment. Throughout the remainder of construction, substitute work was given to workers whenever plans did not arrive.

The first project for the workers was the building of a man-made lake. Over the next two years, it took a total of four hundred men to turn a wooden swamp into a beautiful twenty-three acre lake. Cooperatively, the laborers removed trees and stumps, drained the swamp, and built a twenty-two-foot dam at the western end of the lake. Because of heavy rains during the fall of 1936, the lake was filled by December of that year. The lake became the sight for boating and fishing.
While this first assignment was being carried out, various planners came to Greenbelt to map out the site. A staff of over four hundred advisors and twenty-eight federal agencies, technical associations, corporations and foundations met at the Evalyn Walsh McLean mansion on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington. In collaboration with one another, they worked to plan the greenbelt towns. For the Greenbelt, Maryland project, Hale Walker was town planner, Reginald J. Wadsworth and Douglas D. Ellington principal architects, and Harold Bursley engineering designer. Using separated teams of designers allowed individual approaches to "encourage a family and community life...better than they now enjoy" (Greenbelt). The Greenbelt staff consulted with a variety of agencies to properly implement the plan. Such organizations included the Maryland State Planning Association, Prince George's County representatives, and the Chamber of Commerce. Thus, the actual construction workers were not the only ones to be employed in the Greenbelt program. In essence, every sort of worker was involved.


The Resettlement Administration had its "choice of workers" (Greenbelt) because of the Great Depression. This choice allowed them to employ individuals for obscure tasks. For example, Gordon Kerr, a graduate of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesen West, was employed just to build three-dimensional scale models of the Greenbelt project. Soon, other such tasks were assigned.
At first these such workers were bused from Washington to Baltimore. Eventually, special trains brought these workers to Branchville. From there, they rode trucks for two miles to get to the Greenbelt site. With the help of Grace Tugwell, an assistant administrator for labor, personnel, and information, over five thousand laborers each day arrived at Greenbelt. It was estimated that approximately sixty percent of those sent to Greenbelt were skilled. The Works Progress Administration was dedicated to balancing the level of skilled and unskilled labor. Skilled workers received a compensation of $1.75 per hour, while the unskilled laborers earned anywhere from fifty-one to fifty-seven cents an hour.


To keep the employment of the unskilled up, a good deal of manual labor was used. For example, tree stumps by the lake were removed by picks and shovels rather than by bulldozers. In addition, basements of homes were hand-dug, instead of using machinery. A third example is mentioned in Sameer's Project, where instead of a crane, a ramp was used to build the higher floors of the town theater. It was estimated that"approximately $5 million could have been saved with more extensive use of machine and highly skilled labor" (Greenbelt). However, the federal government was dedicated to provide jobs to as many people as possible.
The construction of Greenbelt required the use of a wide-range of materials. Thus, businesses took advantage of this opportunity and developed new products that would effectively improve the construction industry. Chester Draper, supervisor of the area around the Greenbelt lake, explained that" Business was very competitive in those days and different companies were always coming up with new products to try out. Lots of things that became common in the construction industry were first tried out here" (Greenbelt). Some of the new products included threaded copper fittings for water pipes, brass plumbing in the waste system, and decorative glass blocks. Once again, the construction laborers were not the only ones to be employed. Inventors and manufacturers had a piece of the action as well.


As the Greenbelt project neared completion, the federal government began to devise plans to provide needs for the new residents. One such need was furniture. Thus, they employed artists, under the direction of the Special Skills Division of the Resettlement Administration, to design the furniture for the homes. In addition, the Procurement Division awarded contracts to various manufacturers to build such furniture. A second need for future inhabitants was the accessibility to shops. The Consumer Distribution Corporation signed an agreement with the federal government to provide such stores for the town. These shops then hired employees of their own. Thus, the domino theory of employment occurred once again.