(This is the first of a two-part story and deals primarily with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s involvement with constructing the utopian town of Greenbelt. The second part will deal with Eleanor Roosevelt’s involvement.)
When I meet new people and tell them I once lived in Greenbelt, the common response is, “Oh, that’s Eleanor Roosevelt’s town.” “No,” I respond, “it’s Tugwelltown.” That often results in a blank stare. I explain that Rexford Guy Tugwell was a trusted advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Assistant Secretary of Agriculture who promoted the idea of building Greenbelt and other towns as model planned communities. Those towns could provide utopian housing to low-income people in a healthy, suburban atmosphere surrounded by green space, in contrast to the many tenement neighborhoods of cities.
With the President’s approval and the support of Eleanor, Tugwell created the Resettlement Administration that built Greenbelt, Greenhills, Ohio, and Greendale, Wisconsin. However, these projects were greatly criticized and critics pinned the label of Tugwelltown or Tugwell’s Folly on Greenbelt.
For more of this story, see the August 22 News Review.
