Levittown

Levittown, New York
—  CDP  —
U.S. Census Map
Coordinates: 40°43′28″N 73°30′40″W / 40.72444°N 73.51111°W / 40.72444; -73.51111
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Nassau
Area
- Total	6.9 sq mi (17.8 km2)
- Land	6.9 sq mi (17.8 km2)
- Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	82 ft (25 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	53,067
- Density	7,717.5/sq mi (2,979.7/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
ZIP code	11756
Area code(s)	516
FIPS code	36-42081
GNIS feature ID	0955234

Levittown, a suburb of New York City, is a hamlet in the Town of Hempstead located on Long Island in Nassau County, New York. Levittown is mid way between the villages of Hempstead and Farmingdale. As of the 2000 census, the community had a total population of 53,067.

Levittown gets its name from its builder, the firm of Levitt & Sons, Inc. founded by William Levitt, which built the district as a planned community between 1947 and 1951. William Levitt is considered the father of modern suburbia. Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country.

History

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The building firm, Levitt and Sons, headed by Abraham Levitt and his two sons, William and Alfred, built four planned communities called "Levittown" (in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico), but Levittown, New York was the first. Additionally, Levitt and Sons designs feature prominently in the older portion of Buffalo Grove, Illinois.

The Levitt firm began before World War II, as a builder of custom homes in upper middle-class communities on Long Island. During the war, however, the home-building industry languished under a general embargo on private use of scarce raw materials. William "Bill" Levitt served in the Navy, and developed expertise in mass-production building of military housing using uniform and interchangeable parts. During this same period, he was insistent that a postwar building boom would require similar mass-production housing, and was able to purchase options on large swaths of onion and potato fields in undeveloped sections of Long Island.^[1]

Returning to the firm after war's end, Bill Levitt persuaded his father and brothers to embrace the utilitarian systems of construction he had learned, and with his architect-brother, Alfred, designed a small house on one floor and an unfinished "expansion attic" that could be rapidly constructed and as rapidly rented out to returning GIs and their young families. Levitt and Sons built the community with an eye towards speed, efficiency, and cost-effective construction; these methods led to a production rate of 30 houses a day by July 1948.^[2] They used pre-cut lumber and nails shipped from their own factories in Blue Lake, California and built on concrete slabs, as they had done in a previous planned community in Norfolk, Virginia. This necessitated negotiating a change in the building code, which prior to the building of this community did not permit concrete slabs. Given the urgent need for housing in the region, the Town agreed. Levitt and Sons also controversially utilized non-union contractors in the project.

The planned 2,000 home rental community was quickly successful, with the New York Herald Tribune reporting that half of the properties had been rented within two days of the community being announced on May 7, 1947. As demand continued, exceeding availability, the Levitts expanded their project with 4,000 more homes, as well as community services, including schools and postal delivery. With the full implementation of federal government supports for housing, administered under the Federal Housing Administration (the FHA), the Levitt firm switched from rental to sale of their houses, offering ownership on a 30-year mortgage with no down payment and monthly costs the same as rental. The resulting surge in demand pressed the firm to further expand its development, which changed its name from Island Trees to Levittown shortly thereafter.

From the first, the Levitt development was racially segregated; a "covenant" in the original rental agreement, which migrated to the sales agreement, stipulated that houses could not be rented or sold to any but members of the "Caucasian" race. This covenant conformed to federal requirements that developers using FHA funding had to maintain the "racial homogeneity" of their developments. Only well after the 1954 racial integration decisions, including Brown v. Board of Education, was Levittown racially integrated, and even as late as the 1960 census only a tiny fraction of the community was non-white.^[3]

While the Levitts are generally credited with designing a postwar "planned community," with common public amenities like swimming pools and community centers, they were quick to release these high-maintenance, low-profit elements to the surrounding towns; the development sprawled across municipal boundaries, causing legal and administrative difficulties and requiring major initiatives within those existing municipalities to provide for and fund schools, sewage and water systems, and other infrastructure elements.

In 1949, Levitt and Sons changed focus, unveiling a new plan which it termed a "ranch" house. Larger, 32 feet (9.8 m) by 25 feet (7.6 m), and more modern, these homes were only offered for sale, with a planned price of $7,990. The ranch homes were similar to the rental properties in that they were built on concrete slabs, included an expandable attic but no garage, and were heated with hot-water radiant heating pipes. Five models were offered that were substantially identical with differences in details such as exterior color and window-placement. Again, demand was high, requiring that the purchasing process be streamlined as the assembly process had been, reaching the point that a buyer could walk through the process of selecting a house through contracting for its purchase in three minutes. This ranch model was altered in 1950 to include a carport and a built-in television. In 1951, a partially finished attic was added to the design.

Levittown proved successful. By 1951, it and surrounding regions included 17,447 homes constructed by Levitt and Sons.

Place in American culture

As the first and one of the largest mass-produced suburbs, Levittown quickly became a symbol of postwar suburbia, for good and for bad. Although Levittown provided affordable houses in what many residents felt to be a congenial community, critics damned its homogeneity, blandness, and racial exclusivity (the initial lease prohibited rental to non-whites). Today, "Levittown" is used as a term of derogation to describe overly-sanitized suburbs consisting largely of tract housing. Oddly enough, although Levittown is remembered largely for its homogeneity and conformism, the houses of Levittown have by now been so thoroughly expanded and modified by their owners that their original architectural form can be quite difficult to see.

Levittown has become so ingrained in American culture that the Smithsonian Institution in Washington would like to put on display an entire Levittown house. Bill Yeingst, a historian with Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Domestic Life Division^[4] said "An original ranch model would be ideal. We would like someone to donate their Levittown house, or we would like to find a donor to provide the funds so that we could secure a Levittown house." He noted that "The stories played out in suburban Levittown are the stories of America. They are stories important to everyone." Although "None of this is set in concrete," according to Mr. Yeingst, "the Levittown house would be dismantled at the site, transported to Washington and reconstructed. Then it would be exhibited along with other innovations in American home life." ^[5]

Geography

Levittown is located at 40°43'28" North, 73°30'40" West (40.724468, -73.511191)^[6].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the community has a total area of 17.8 km² (6.9 mi²). 17.8 km² (6.9 mi²) of it is land and none of the area is covered with water.

Because of non-conforming postal codes, Levittown has a different border than does the "Levittown, NY 11756" postal zone. There are several areas of Levittown that have a "Bethpage, NY 11714", "Seaford, NY 11783", or "Wantagh, NY 11793" mailing address.

Demographics

As of the U.S. Census Estimate of 2006, there are 53,067 people, 17,207 households, and 14,109 families residing in the community. The population density is 7,717.5 per square mile (2,978.1/km²). There are 17,410 housing units at an average density of 2,531.9/sq mi (977.0/km²). The racial makeup of the area is 88.6% White, 0.2% African American, 0.07% Native American, 8.7% Asian, and 5.7% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

In the community the population is spread out with 25.7% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 37 years. For every 100 females there are 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.4 males.

The median income for a household in the community is $69,923, and the median income for a family is $73,851 (these figures had risen to $85,479 and $89,345 respectively as of a 2007 estimate).^[7] Males have a median income of $80,603 versus $65,962 for females. The per capita income for the CDP is $35,917. 1.2% of the population and 0.2% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 0.9% of those under the age of 18 and 0.5% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Education

Levittown is primarily served by two public school districts, the Island Trees Union Free School District with 2,851 students and the Levittown Union Free School District with 7,987 students. A small portion of the northwest corner of the hamlet is served by the East Meadow Union Free School District.^[8] The Island Trees Union Free School District serves northeastern Levittown and hosts Island Trees High School, Island Trees Memorial Middle School, Michael F. Stokes Elementary School, and J Fred Sparke Elementary School ^[9]

In 1982, Island Trees gained national attention from the United States Supreme Court case Board of Education v. Pico. The case determined that students' first amendment rights were violated when the school board removed several books it found objectionable from the high school's library.^[10]

The Levittown Union Free School District, which also serves North Wantagh, has two high schools: Division Avenue and General Douglas MacArthur, two middle schools: Wisdom Lane and Jonas Salk, and six elementary schools: Abbey Lane, East Broadway, Gardiners Avenue, Lee Road, Northside, and Summit Lane.^[9] The Levittown School District dates back to the 1800s originally called the Jerusalem School District of the Town of Hempstead.

Private schools include the Maria Montessori School, The Progressive School of Long Island, Nassau Suffolk Services for Autism,^[9] and the South Shore Christian Elementary and Secondary School located in the former Geneva M Gallow Elementary School building.^[11] Vocational schools available are the Brittany Beauty School, Hunter Business School,^[9] and the New York Chiropractic College.^[12]

Infrastructure

Transportation

While there is no passenger train operation in Levittown, the Long Island Rail Road provides service from the Hicksville station, which serves the Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma Branches, and the Wantagh station on the Montauk-Babylon branch. Both lines run east-west between New York's Penn Station and points east on Long Island.^[13]

Emergency Services

Ambulance: The Wantagh-Levittown Volunteer Ambulance Corps provides paramedic level of care.^[14]

Fire: Levittown is protected by three volunteer fire departments, the Levittown Fire Department with 231 members operating out of 3 stations, Station 3 of the East Meadow Fire Department which covers portions of Levittown west of Division Avenue, and Station 2 of the Wantagh Fire Department which serves portions of Levittown South of Abbey Lane School.^[15]

Police: Levittown is patrolled by the eighth precinct of the Nassau County Police Department^[16]

Post Office

Has one main USPS Post Office located at 180 Gardiners Ave.

Notable residents

• Brand New band (fl. 2000–) members Jesse Lacey (1978), Vin Accardi, Brian Lane, and Garrett Tierney^[17]
• Brimstone (1974), professional wrestler, actor, author^[18]
• Jon Buller (author) (fl. 1968/1974^[19][20]–), children's book author and illustrator^[21]
• "Irish" Bobby Cassidy (Apr. 19, 1944), world-rated junior middleweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, and cruiser weight boxer. In 1975, he was ranked number one in the world as a light heavyweight by the World Boxing Council
• Thomas Michael Cavanagh (fl. 2004(?)^[22]–), composer, singer, songwriter, bassist, guitarist with and/or formally of Bent Pussycat, Lita Ford, Rhino Caravan, Sons of Infinity, Christine Vaskas, Wardance, and The Back Seat Devils.^[22]
• Elizabeth Connors, stuntwoman
• Kevin Covais (1989), 2006 American Idol finalist^[23]
• Keelin Curnuck (fl. 1993–), Miss New York 1996, competed in the Miss U.S.A. Pageant^[24]
• John A. Gambling (1930–2004), morning radio host on WOR 710^[25]
• Ellie Greenwich (1940), Hall of Fame Songwriter, "Brill Building" pop composer^[25]
• Bill Griffith (Jan. 20, 1944), cartoonist Zippy the Pinhead^[25]
• Peter Gruenwald (1912–1979), 1978 Lufthansa heist conspirator^[26]
• Billy Joel (May 9, 1949), singer/songwriter, grew up in Levitt built section of Hicksville, New York^[27]
• Marc Kantor (1986),^[28][29] guitarist for Patent Pending.^[30] Also rode a bicycle from Levittown to San Diego, California to raise money and awareness for the American Heart Association.^[31]
• Brian Kilcommons (1953), famous American dog trainer^[32]
• Donnie Klang (1985), hip-hop singer^[33]
• Cyril M. Kornbluth (1923-1958), author
• Miss Understood (Alex Heimberg, born ca 1981), drag artist, actor and businessperson.
• Eddie Money (Mar. 3, 1949), musician of "Two Tickets to Paradise" fame attended Island Trees High School though he lived in adjacent Plainedge, New York^[34]
• Sterling Morrison (1942–1995), guitarist with The Velvet Underground^[35]
• Bill O'Reilly (Sep. 10, 1949), political commentator
• Tom Kapinos (1969) Screenwriter Dawson's Creek and Creator, Executive Producer Californication
• Maureen Tucker (Aug. 26, 1944), drummer for The Velvet Underground^[35]

In the media

• A Popular Song by the Famous Long Island band Patent Pending "The L-Town Shakedown" formally "Levittown is for Lovers" is about this town.
• The 1954 Levittown documentary A City Is Born featured an interview with creator William J. Levitt, aerial views of the development, and a 45-second time-lapse sequence showing one of the houses being constructed.^[36]
• In 1962, singing comedian Allan Sherman (famous for his novelty hit of life at summer camp, Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh) poked fun in his album My Son, the Folk Singer with a parody of Harry Belafonte's Jamaica Farewell: "I'm upside down. My head is turning around. Cause I've got to sell the house, in Levittown."^[25]
• The Lockhorns of Levittown — later simply The Lockhorns — sprang from the pen of cartoonist Bill Hoest on newspaper funny pages in 1968. A graduate of Cooper Union in Manhattan, Hoest moved to Long Island, where he created the suburban couple Leroy, tippling girl watcher, and Lorretta, wisecracking roast burner. The strip lived on when John Reiner and Hoest's widow, Bunny, took over after Hoest's death in 1988.^[25]
• "Former high school teacher Gene Horowitz bodice-ripping 1980 novel, The Ladies of Levittown,^[37] featured a titillating account of America's most famous suburb, scandalizing many residents, who recognized their own lives depicted in the pages. The saga — taking place between 1947 and 1978 — pushes back the drapes, offering insight into the passions and disappointments of middle-class women as they struggle to reconcile their relationships with husbands, lovers and children."^[25]
• In the 1982 musical, Little Shop of Horrors, Audrey, the slum dwelling heroine, dreams of a home "Somewhere that's Green" but "Nothing fancy like Levittown."
• 1985 W. D. Wetherell published short story, The Man Who Loved Levittown, in a collection of the same name.^[38] The Library Journal reviewed the story (an O'Henry prizewinner) as "a World War II vet buys a house in Levittown where he spends the best years of his life. His wife has died, his grown children have left, and one by one his neighbors are selling out and moving to Florida. Beneath the talky, narrative voice of this story you discover the internal logic of a man pushed beyond reason to a desperate act".^[39]
• Stewart Bird's 1994 documentary Building The American Dream: Levittown, NY explores Levitt's vision of rapidly constructing inexpensive tract homes, featuring rare archival footage and photos, an interview with Levitt, and the reminiscences of numerous Levittown residents (including singer Billy Joel).^[40]
• October 24, 1997, Wonderland, a satirical documentary about Levittown (produced and directed by John O'Hagan) premiered at TriBeCa. A New York Times review described it as follows: "The collective picture that emerges suggests a smug city slicker's condescending view of what could be almost any American small town."^[41]
• In 2003, Helen Harvey published a remembrance Eating Corn through a Picket Fence of which she writes "My mom and dad were Veterans of WWII. I consider myself a veteran of having lived with them. Levittown was a community of veterans where we all soothed our pains with sex, drugs and rock and roll."^[42]
• Anna Shapiro published a 2006 teen oriented book Living on Air. It's described by the publisher as about "Maude Pugh...(who)...was raised in Levittown, Long Island. By the time she attended high school she concluded her parents were colossal failures who hid in a community in which all exterior houses were identical to one another."^[43]
• In 2006, Marc Palmieri's play Levittown^[44] was performed at the Axis Theater in New York. As reviewed by The Village Voice: "We don't typically quibble with Leo Tolstoy, but are unhappy families really so different? Or are they rather like the endless rows of postwar homes that William Levitt built on Long Island?"^[45]
• On April 16, 2007, Levittown man Marc Kantor began riding his bicycle from Levittown, New York to San Diego, California. His mission was to help raise money and awareness for The American Heart Association.^[31] A portion of the proceeds were also donated to the Rhiannon Chloe Foundation, a foundation started to help children in need with leukemia. He successfully completed this on June 7, 2007.^[46]
• On Friday, November 9, 2007, Levitt and Sons of Fort Lauderdale became the nation's largest builder to file for bankruptcy as the housing market boom of the early 2000s continued to crumble.^[47]
• An aerial view of Levittown appears on the inner sleeve of the Billy Joel LP, The Nylon Curtain.

See also

• Levittown, Pennsylvania
• Levittown, Puerto Rico
• Willingboro Township, New Jersey - another Levittown which has since reverted to its original name

Footnotes

References

• Allison, John D. (1956). An analysis of Levittown, New York, with particular reference to demand satisfaction from mass produced low cost housing. New York: Thesis (Ph. D.)--Graduate School of Business Administration, New York University. OCLC 13870117. 
• Baxandall, Rosalyn and Elizabeth Ewen (2000). Picture Windows: How the Suburbs Happened. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-07013-2. OCLC 43303145. 
• Buhr, Jean Dieter (1988). The meaning of Levittown. New Brunswick, N.J.: Thesis (M.A.)--Rutgers University. OCLC 30742323. 
• Conrad, Pam (1995). Our House. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 0590465236. OCLC 31739731. 
• Duncan, Susan (1999). Levittown: the Way We Were. Huntington: Maple Hill Press. ISBN 0930545184. OCLC 42383186. 
• Ferrer, Margaret (1997). Levittown, the First 50 Years. Charleston: Arcadia. ISBN 0752404652. OCLC 36910278. 
• Kelly, Barbara Mae (1988). The Politics of House and Home: Implications in the Built Environment of Levittown Long Island. Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Stonybrook. OCLC 21550472. 
• Kelly, Barbara Mae (1993). Expanding the American Dream: Building and Rebuilding Levittown. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-1287-3. OCLC 25094119. 
• Liell, John (1952). Levittown: a study in community planning and development. New Haven: Thesis (Ph.D.)--Yale University. 
• Lundrigan, Margaret (1999). Levittown, NY Volume Two. City: Arcadia Publishing (SC). ISBN 0752409824. OCLC 42383070. 
• Matarrese, Lynn (1997). History of Levittown, New York. Levittown: Levittown Historical Society. 
• National Education Association of the United States (1962). Levittown, New York: A Study of Leadership Problems in a Rapidly Developed Community; Report of an Investigation. Washington DC. OCLC 3581708. 
• Orzack, Louis H., and Irwin Taylor Sanders (1963). A Social Profile of Levittown, New York. Boston: Research Institute, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Boston University. OCLC 3655814. 
• State University of New York (1962). Education in Levittown; reporting a study of the administration, financing and educational program of the school system, 1961-62, to the Board of Education, Union Free School District no. five, Levittown Public Schools, Levittown, New York. Albany. OCLC 10219344. 
• Thompson, Gare (2002). A Suburban Community of the 1950s. Washington: National Geographic Society. ISBN 079228691X. OCLC 50770960. 

External links

• Levittown: Documents of an Ideal American Suburb Peter Bacon Hales, Art History Department, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Levittown Historical Society
• Little Boxes, Little Boxes: The Levittown Story from FreeEnterpriseLand.com
• Joshua Ruff (December 2007). "Levittown: The Archetype for Suburban Development". American History. via HistoryNet from Weider History Group. http://www.historynet.com/levittown-the-archetype-for-suburban-development.htm. 

• Levittown, New York is at coordinates 40°43′28″N 73°30′40″W / 40.724468°N 73.511191°W / 40.724468; -73.511191 (Levittown, New York)Coordinates: 40°43′28″N 73°30′40″W / 40.724468°N 73.511191°W / 40.724468; -73.511191 (Levittown, New York)

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