Historic Greendale Photos on Display

Featuring approximately 200 archived photos, a slideshow, and artifacts from Greendale's past, the Greendale Historical Society's exhibit Greendale - Past and Present opened Saturday at the Village Center.

"This is a good opportunity for grandparents to bring their grandkids out and tell them stories of the 'good 'ol day days' in Greendale," said historical society member Bill Kewan. "It does no good to keep all these photos in the archives, and I hope people get a chance to see them."

The exhibit will be open to the public again from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 26.

The historic photos on display were digitally archived and printed and are divided into categories such as village events, youth activities and early construction.

Aside from the archived photographs, a historic slideshow was reproduced digitally for the exhibit and now includes narration. After the exhibit closes, historical society members plan to make copies of the slideshow available for viewing at the Greendale Public Library as well as at Greendale High School, where the slideshow will be available for history classes.

"The designers that came up with the Greenbelt community design in Greendale were considered to be on the fringe or ahead of their time," said Kewan. "Now, we reap the benefits of their visionary thinking."

Showing a much more modern side of Greendale, a collection of photographs taken since approximately 2004 by local photographer James Hauser paint a very colorful image of present-day Greendale.

"Over the years I've taken hundreds of photographs of the village," said Hauser. "I began to focus on themes, and my pictures have been used to represent Greendale in various ways."

In addition, a photo study of the three Greenbelt communities by Jason Reblando, a doctorate student from Chicago who has frequented Greendale, rounds out the exhibit with recent photos of Greendale compared to recent photos of the other two Greenbelt communities.