Greendale is one of three Greenbelt communities.  The other two are Greenhills, Ohio and Greenbelt, Maryland.  Of the three, Greendale has retained it's historic character more than the others largely because of Reiman Publication's headquarters being in the city.  Reiman was the publisher of many "country" magazines like, "Backyard Living, Birds and Bloom, Country Woman, and Taste of Home" magazines.  In recent years Reader's Digest has moved into Reiman's headquarters.

 

Here's my walking tour of Historic Greendale.  We'll start at Scout Lake.

 

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4.  And here's are what people from Greendale call "The Originals!"

 

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8. Many of the chimney's around town have fun symbols on them.

 

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13.  There are a series of parks and trails that connect every street in the town to "The Village," the central business district.

 

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21.  Just beyond the originals is the new(er) Greendale High School

 

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28.  As we get back to "the village" we run across some relics from the past.  This used to be the fire department, now they're working on making it the Greendale Historical Society.

 

29.  I don't know what this is

 

30.  This was the community center and school originally.  Now it's been expanded and is just the Middle School

 

31.  Here are some more trails going from the originals to the school

 

32.  And now, the village!

 

33.  Broad St is lined with shops on both sides, with the Village Hall at the end.

 

34.  That's Ferch's on the left.  We went there for lunch.

 

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50.  This shot is infamous.  A few years ago, a bluebird sat atop this chimney but for whatever reason the neighbors didn't like it.  After a couple weeks of bickering and community building the situation grew out of control and became a national news story.  Orlando still has the story  up online (http://www.clickorlando.com/news/4804094/detail.html)

 

51.  I love that the guys has little bluebirds up there now to spite the neighbors

 

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75.  And of course, the BF has to get in the way of the last shot.

 

Thanks for following me around Greendale.

 

 

 

 

 

How much of the village is original?

 

Great pics...Greendale appears significantly different than Greenhills.

I hate saying it...it looks like Greenhills ;).

Looks very Stepford to me.  Why are homes built with garages in the front?!  Why??

 

I would like to see what the area looks like in Spring/Summer, it looks so gloomy!

Yeah, sorry for the bad weather.  It's quite beautiful in the summer.  Greendale is the daffodil capital of the US and the village has daffodils planted everywhere imaginable.  When they bloom, it something else. 

 

The garages in front are really interesting.  There aren't any alleys in the village because the spaces behind the houses are almost all parkland and pedestrian walkways connecting to the village center.  While this village would've been impossible without the automobile, and automobiles were accounted for in the design, pedestrian access and walkability are the most important factors in the design of the village. 

 

Ink, I'm not quite sure what you're asking...if you're looking at a map, you might notice that the village has a bunch of "sections" where all the streets are connected by a "-way"  Example...I grew up on Leroy Ln off of Eastway.  So I grew up in the L-Section.  This is how all the locals speak.

 

So, using that lingo, all the houses in the A-Section, B-Section, and C-Section are originals.  And while most of the D-Section is newer, Dale Ln and Dendron Ln are originals. 

 

Here's a little breakdown of what was originally built from GreendaleOriginals.com:

The houses now known as the "Greendale Originals" were officially opened on May 1, 1938. Nearly all were two stories except for the tiny "Honeymooners" homes. There were a total of 572 living units in 366 buildings:

  274 houses were single-family units of two and (mostly) three bedroom homes.

  45 two-family units known as "Twins," which featured one, two and four bedroom homes and 36 row houses containing a mix of one to three bedroom homes.

 

Here's a cool link with a few dozen historic pics: http://www.greendalelife.com/vintage_greendale.html

 

This one's a pretty famous pic that was used on many WPA publications:

 

 

Look, here's a good picture to demonstrate the pedestrian trails:

Yeah, sorry for the bad weather.  It's quite beautiful in the summer.  Greendale is the daffodil capital of the US and the village has daffodils planted everywhere imaginable.  When they bloom, it something else. 

 

The garages in front are really interesting.  There aren't any alleys in the village because the spaces behind the houses are almost all parkland and pedestrian walkways connecting to the village center.  While this village would've been impossible without the automobile, and automobiles were accounted for in the design, pedestrian access and walkability are the most important factors in the design of the village. 

 

Ink, I'm not quite sure what you're asking...if you're looking at a map, you might notice that the village has a bunch of "sections" where all the streets are connected by a "-way"  Example...I grew up on Leroy Ln off of Eastway.  So I grew up in the L-Section.  This is how all the locals speak.

 

So, using that lingo, all the houses in the A-Section, B-Section, and C-Section are originals.  And while most of the D-Section is newer, Dale Ln and Dendron Ln are originals. 

 

Here's a little breakdown of what was originally built from GreendaleOriginals.com:

The houses now known as the "Greendale Originals" were officially opened on May 1, 1938. Nearly all were two stories except for the tiny "Honeymooners" homes. There were a total of 572 living units in 366 buildings:

  274 houses were single-family units of two and (mostly) three bedroom homes.

  45 two-family units known as "Twins," which featured one, two and four bedroom homes and 36 row houses containing a mix of one to three bedroom homes.

 

Here's a cool link with a few dozen historic pics: http://www.greendalelife.com/vintage_greendale.html

 

This one's a pretty famous pic that was used on many WPA publications:

 

 

Look, here's a good picture to demonstrate the pedestrian trails:

 

Yep Stepford!  Not a minority in sight!

Umm...yeah...there weren't any minorities in sight in those 1930's photos for obvious reasons, but you're certainly wrong about today.  The place is incredibly diverse these days.  And don't go off City-data, that's just plain wrong.  You have to see the schools and walk the streets to see all the different races that live there. 

Umm...yeah...there weren't any minorities in sight in those 1930's photos for obvious reasons, but you're certainly wrong about today.  The place is incredibly diverse these days.  And don't go off City-data, that's just plain wrong.  You have to see the schools and walk the streets to see all the different races that live there. 

 

OK.  and trust i never believe a thing on city-data.

Here's another interesting graphic to illustrate my point...

Check out the floor plan.  The "front" door that leads to the street leads to a utility room, while the "back" door to the parks and pedestrian trails opens to the living room.

 

Ink, I'm not quite sure what you're asking...

 

I was asking about the town center/shopping area; you referred to it as 'the village' above.

Oh, "the village" is two blocks long on Broad St.  It starts at village hall and has shops on both sides of the street. 

Oh, "the village" is two blocks long on Broad St. It starts at village hall and has shops on both sides of the street.

 

And how old is it? The shopping structures look pretty new in your photos.

Oh, the buildings are all original.  They were remodeled in the late 1990s (1997 I believe) by Reiman Publications.  The library (orange building in pic 32) was added in 1990.  There was originally a theater on the western side of the street, but that was removed to put in the Great Harvest Bread Company, the Taste of Home Restaurant (where they test all the recipes for Taste of Home magazine) and a tax attorney. 

I'm sure its a nice place to live but it seems very instituonal to me...like I'm on a base or something