Photo: Craig Schreiner

Dr. Arnold Alanen, author of "Main Street Ready Made: The New Deal Community of Greendale, Wisconsin” will be the guest speaker at the Greendale Historical Society’s spring meeting on June 19. His talk is entitled, "Two Anniversaries: The New Deal at 75 and Greendale at 70."

“The Historical Society is very excited to have Dr. Alanen share with the community what he has learned about Greendale’s unique history,”said Stephan Zelinksi of the Greendale Historical Society. “This is a great opportunity for Villagers to hear much more about the facinating story of our Village.”

Alanen is a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the UW-Madison, and is the author of numerous publications.

“Greendale offers a glimpse of the 1930s,” says Alanen. “It was designed by renowned landscape architects, architects, and city planners; and the progress of town building, from start to finish, received widespread attention from newspapers and professional journals.”

In “Main Street Ready-Made,” Alanen examined Greendale as an outgrowth of public policy, as an experiment in social engineering, and as an organic community that eventually evolved to embrace a huge shopping mall, condominiums, and expensive homes while still preserving much of the architecture and ambiance of the original village.

Alanen will speak on June 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Greendale Public Library, Lower Level, Health Dept. Entrance at 5650 Parking Street Greendale, WI 53129, The event is free and open to the public