Levittown

Aerial view of Levittown, Pennsylvania circa 1959

Levittown is the name of eight large suburban housing developments created in the United States and one in Puerto Rico by William J. Levitt and his company Levitt & Sons. Built after World War II for returning veterans and their new families, the communities offered attractive alternatives to cramped central city locations and apartments. The Veterans Administration and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) guaranteed builders that qualified veterans could buy housing for a fraction of rental costs.

Levitt refused to sell Levittown homes to people of color, and the FHA, upon authorizing loans for the construction of Levittown, included racial covenants in each deed, making Levittown a segregated community.^[1] The first African American family, the Myers, who bought a second-hand house there in Pennsylvania, in 1957 experienced attacks on their house, and up to 500 whites gathering outside their house. Martin Luther King met with the family, and their plight led to legislative change. They bravely stuck it out for 4 years until Myers, a WW2 veteran got a job elsewhere.There is a contemporary documentary film on Youtube called "Racism in America Small Town 1950s Case Study Documentary Film" which interviews white residents there but not the Myers. ^[2]

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. In addition to normal family dwellings, Levittowns provided private meeting areas, swimming pools, public parks, and recreational facilities.^[3]

Production was modeled on assembly lines in 27 steps with construction workers trained to perform one step. A house could be built in one day when effectively scheduled. This enabled quick and economical production of similar or identical homes with rapid recovery of costs. Standard Levittown houses included a white picket fence, green lawns, and modern appliances. Sales in the original Levittown began in March 1947. 1,400 homes were purchased during the first three hours.