The History of Greenhills, Ohio

www.HistoryInYourOwnBackyard.com
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Established in 1938 Greenhills, Ohio is one of only three “Greenbelt Towns” built in the United States. The other two are Greenbelt, Maryland and Greendale, Wisconsin. The three towns had their start during the Depression Era. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created a program to build new suburban communities as part of his New Deal plans for the country. The overseeing department was the Resettlement Administration which later became a part of the Farms Security Administration. The building of these towns provided much needed jobs for those in the trades (brick layers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, etc.), as well as people not in the trades who worked at clearing land, digging trenches, etc....
These men and women were a part of the WPA (Works Progress Administration), the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) , and the NYA (National Youth Administration). The use of local building materials and supplies also helped stimulate the local economy.
Each “Greenbelt Town” had certain similar criteria that needed to be met to be considered as a “Greenbelt Town”. It had to be near a major city to provide jobs for area residents. Each town had a Village center that had shops, a community center (which were used for schools and community activities) and government offices. The homes were to surround that Village center. And each town had a wide green belt of land surrounding the town that could easily be used as farm land for raising crops or animals. The most important aspect of these towns was to provide low income families with affordable housing to raise their children in and a safe environment with access to large open “green” spaces. Pathways were created in each section of homes to connect the sections to each other, as well as provide a pathway to the Village center.
Another unique feature of Greenhills, OH and Greendale is how the streets in each section were named alphabetically. All the streets in a given area start with the same letter.
GPS Location: 39°16'03.4"N 84°31'20.1"W

[@katsuragimisato54]

My grandparents and parents lived here, and I was a kid here, for a few years.

[@patriotic3123]

war thunder af 2019 ???

[@copperbeardedking1919]

Did they mention it was a sundown town? I lived in Forest park right next door

[@vjhhhhjjj1951]

don't see any AFRICAN-AMERICANS?😌

[@historyinyourownbackyard2363]

You're absolutely correct. This community restricted African Americans.

[@LemminPie]

@@historyinyourownbackyard2363 To be specific, Greenhills was a "sundown town." African Americans were not only prohibited from living there, but they actually had to be out of town by sundown. (Sadly, there were 8 towns in Ohio with sundown laws.) Until the 1960s, the only African Americans allowed in town were the school's 2 janitors, and they literally had to be out by sundown. The end of "sundown" in Greenhills didn't happen until an engineer at GE and his family moved in around 1966.

[@montanelas6716]

War thunder

[@patmadix172]

Built those property’s to last

[@michaellively8132]

I usually like these videos, but the lady simply reading out loud is pretty boring.