Capital Wheel at Night

Greenbelt Museum

10-B Crescent Road
Greenbelt, MD 20770
(301) 507-6582
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    Greenbelt is a planned community that was designed and built by the federal government during the Great Depression. Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the project put many unemployed people to work building the original town, while also creating homes for families of modest income during a severe housing shortage. Greenbelt’s team of prominent planners and architects attempted to create a small utopia using the principles of garden-city planning. Greenbelt is one of three federal “greentowns” (the others are Greendale, WI, and Greenhills, OH). In 1997, Greenbelt became a National Historic Landmark. The Greenbelt Museum includes an original international-style house near the town’s center that is restored and furnished with objects from the period of 1936-1946. The walls are hung with original architectural renderings and artwork created by New Deal artists and architects.