When the federal government built defense housing at the planned community of Greenbelt, Maryland, it ended up with a town divided into two neighborhoods, with two different populations that lived in two kinds of housing, old and new, defense and non-defense. The two neighborhoods bonded through the home front experiences of World War II and the cooperative nature of Greenbelt’s municipal, social, and economic institutions. However, one section of defense housing physically and sociologically separate from the planned community, managed to create their own identity and spaces within the built environment provided to them. This area became known as the North End.
Volunteer docent, Stephen Oetken, has done extensive research on Greenbelt's North End. In his lecture, viewers were able to discover what made - and continues to make - this area a unique part of Greenbelt’s history. Watch below.
This event was sponsored by the Friends of the Greenbelt Museum and the City of Greenbelt.
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