What was the significance of Levittown New York?
What was the significance of Levittown New York?
Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country. William Levitt, who assumed control of Levitt & Sons in 1954, is considered the father of modern suburbia in the United States.
How much did a Levittown house cost in 1950?
The first Levittown home sold for $7,900 and in a short period of time, 17,000 units were sold, providing homes for 84,000 people.
How did Levittown change America?
But Levittown was about more than just the houses. As the largest and most influential housing development of its time, it became a postwar poster child for everything right (affordability, better standard of living) and wrong (architectural monotony, poor planning, racism) with suburbia.
What was the relationship between the GI Bill and Levittown?
Since the GI Bill insured veterans’ mortgages, Levittown could afford to offer them unprecedented credit, in some cases allowing veterans and their families to move in without putting down a cent.
Are Levittown houses still around?
Levittown’s housing inventory is mostly single-family. Among the 114 properties on the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island website as of Dec.
How did Levittown change American society in the 1950s?
As a result of the GI Bill that guaranteed home loans, the post-war Baby Boom, and low housing prices, families in the 1950s started to move to the suburbs. Levittown in Long Island, New York, is widely recognized as the first modern American suburb. It had swimming pools, shopping centers, and backyards.
Why were levittowns important to 1950s culture?
What was one result of the GI Bill?
The GI Bill gave World War II servicemen and servicewoman many options and benefits. Those who wished to continue their education in college or vocation school could do so tuition-free up to $500 while also receiving a cost of living stipend. As a result, almost 49 percent of college admissions in 1947 were veterans.
Is Levittown NY Safe?
Levittown is safer than the majority of cities, towns, and villages in America (62%) and also has a lower crime rate than 43% of the communities in New York, according to NeighborhoodScout’s analysis of FBI crime data.
Why was Levittown so attractive to American families?
Levittown became a symbol of the movement to the suburbs in the years after WWII. In contrast to that of the central cities life in suburbia became attractive to many American families because the suburbs seemed to be dominated by a larger, safer, and more private homes.
What was Levittown in the 1950s?
Levittown in the 1950s. Levitt and Sons, a construction company, purchased a 7-square-mile plot of potato and onion farms in Long Island in 1947. They set out to build one of the first uniform suburban community in the US. The community grew fast. In fact, a house was built every 16 minutes in Levittown.
Where is Levittown on Long Island?
Nassau County, Long Island Alamy Construction of Levittown was famously quick: a home was built every 16 minutes. In 1947, entrepreneur Abraham Levitt and his two sons, William and Alfred, broke ground on a planned community located in Nassau County, Long Island.
Did the Levitts build the suburbs?
To many of those families, the Levittowns in Long Island, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania were the answer to their prayers. The Levitts certainly did not invent the business of building suburbs, but in many ways, they perfected it. Abraham, a horticultural enthusiast, was heavily involved in the landscaping and gardening of the community.
What lies underneath the uniform houses of Levittown?
But underneath the uniform houses lining the curved, meticulously gardened roads of Levittown lies a much more turbulent story. Although 1950s suburbia conjures visions of traditional family life, idyllic domesticity, and stability, the story of the suburbanization of America is also one of exclusion, segregation, and persecution.
