Levittown

Following the end of World War II, the United States found itself in a completely different world. The country was no longer in an economic depression and the country emerged as a major World Power. The country was becoming more prosperous and the birth rate was soaring. The need of housing rose and Levittown emerged as the standard for the fulfillment of the new housing need. Levittown the brainchild of the firm Levitt and Sons, and the first mass produced suburb in the country had an important impact on the country. Levittown set the standard to others around country, on how to build houses. Levittown also represented what was happening in the country as a whole. From the prosperity of the country, to the discrimination against minorities, Levittown defined America during this era.
To understand how Levittown came to be and it how it represented America at the time, we need to study the post-war conditions of the United States. Americans after World War II found themselves in a great situation. The country was no longer in the midst of a depression nor involved in a brutal global conflict. Wartime production had helped pull the American economy out of the depression it was in, and from the late 1940s on, young adults saw a rise in their spending power (PBS). In this time, jobs were abundant, wages were higher, and Americans had money to spend. During this time, modern American consumerism started. Consumer spending no longer meant just satisfying an indulgent material desire (PBS). However, American consumerism was praised as contributing to the ultimate success of the American way of life. People wanted televisions, cars, washing machines, refrigerators, toasters, and vacuum cleaners (PBA). Between 1945 and 1949, Americans purc...

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...lready been rented out to families two days after the sale was announced. Time magazine called Levittown as “it epitomizes the revolution which has brought mass production to the housing industry” (Time).
Levittown also reflected the demographics of the era. Levittown had very few old people. In 1950, few of its more than 40,000 residents were past the age of 35 during. There were 8,000 children, and scarcely 900 were more than seven years old at this age (Matarresse). During this time, in front of almost every house along Levittown's 100 miles of winding streets sits a tricycle or a baby carriage (Matarresse). In Levittown, almost all activity stopped from 12 to 2 in the afternoon because it was nap time. One Levittowner said to Time magazine at time that, "Everyone is so young that sometimes it's hard to remember how to get along with older people" (Matarresse).