Editing Levittown, Pennsylvania (section)

== History ==
[[Image:LevittownPA.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of Levittown {{Circa|1959}}]]
Most of the land on which Levittown is built was purchased in 1951.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sofield |first1=Tom |title=65 Years Later, Life Goes On In Levittown |url=http://levittownnow.com/2017/06/23/65-years-later-life-goes-on-in-levittown/ |website=LevittownNow.com |access-date=3 December 2020 |date=June 23, 2017}}</ref> Levitt and Sons only built six models of houses in Levittown, all single-family dwellings with lawns: the Levittowner, the Rancher, the Jubilee, the Pennsylvanian, the Colonial and the Country Clubber, with only modest exterior variations within each model. The homes were moderately priced and required only a low down payment. 

Construction of Levittown began in February 1952, soon after completion of [[Levittown, New York]], located on [[Long Island]]. Levittown, Pennsylvania, was the second "[[Levittown]]" built by [[William Levitt|William J. Levitt]], who is often credited as the creator of the modern American [[suburb]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=William Levitt: The king of suburbia {{!}} The Real Deal|url=https://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/william-levitt-the-king-of-suburbia/|access-date=2021-02-24|website=The Real Deal New York|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Levittown|url=https://ushistoryscene.com/article/levittown/|access-date=2021-02-24|website=US History Scene|date=November 8, 2015 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Staff|first=Legacy|date=2014-01-28|title=William Levitt: Father of Suburbia|url=https://www.legacy.com/news/william-levitt-father-of-suburbia/|access-date=2021-02-24|website=Legacy.com|language=en-US}}</ref> 

To speed up construction, Levitt & Sons perfected a 26-step rationalized building method that was essentially an assembly line type of home building.<ref name="Lebovic">{{cite news |last1=Lebovic |first1=Matt |title=How America's Jewish 'king of the suburbs' kept Blacks out of suburbia |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-americas-jewish-king-of-the-suburbs-kept-blacks-out-of-suburbia/ |access-date=18 March 2024 |work=Times of Israel |date=16 February 2021}}</ref> The house remained stationary while construction workers moved from site to site, each repeatedly performing a task such as pouring foundations, putting up pre-fabricated walls, installing plumbing, or doing electrical work.<ref name="Bowling Beatniks">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Levittown |encyclopedia=Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America |year=2002 |last=Berg |first=Timothy |publisher=Cengage |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/united-states-and-canada/us-political-geography/levittown |access-date=18 March 2024 }}</ref> At peak production, this highly regimented process enabled Levitt's workers to produce a finished house every sixteen minutes.<ref name="Olito">{{cite news |last1=Olito |first1=Frank |title=Vintage photos that show what life was like in America's first suburb in the '50s |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/vintage-photos-levittown-suburbs-50s |access-date=18 March 2024 |work=Business Insider |date=14 September 2020}}</ref> Construction of the homes commenced in 1952 and when completed in 1958, 17,311 homes had been built.<ref name="Olito" />

What set Levittown apart from other developments at the time was that it was built as a complete community. Levitt & Sons designed neighborhoods with traffic-calming curvilinear roads, in which there were no four-way intersections. Each neighborhood had within its boundaries a site donated by Levitt & Sons for a public elementary school. Locations for churches and other public facilities were set aside on main thoroughfares such as the Levittown Parkway, likewise donated by the builder to religious groups and other organizations. 

Other amenities included Olympic-sized public pools, parks, greenbelts, baseball fields and playgrounds, and a shopping center located in neighboring [[Tullytown, Pennsylvania|Tullytown]] borough that was considered large and modern at the time of its construction (and in fact was the largest east of the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]]). The first set of four sample homes were put on display in a swatch of land near the future [[Levittown Shop-a-Rama]], and an estimated 30,000 people viewed them in that first weekend.<ref>[http://server1.fandm.edu/levittown/one/f.html server1.fandm.edu] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220110026/http://server1.fandm.edu/levittown/one/f.html |date=February 20, 2008 }}</ref>

Residents, who are sometimes called Levittowners, were first expected to comply with a lengthy list of rules and regulations regarding the upkeep of their homes and use of their property. Two of these "rules" included a prohibition on hanging laundry out to dry on Sunday and not allowing homeowners to fence off their yards. These proved unenforceable over time, particularly when backyard pools became financially accessible to the working class and privacy concerns drove many to fence off their yards.<ref>[http://server1.fandm.edu/levittown/two/h.html server1.fandm.edu] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220110031/http://server1.fandm.edu/levittown/two/h.html |date=February 20, 2008 }}</ref> In the years since Levitt & Sons ended construction, three- and four-story "garden [[apartments]]" and a number of non-Levitt owner-occupied houses have been built in Levittown.

William Levitt had a career-long commitment to a whites-only policy in their developments.{{dubious|date=September 2023}} Levitt & Sons would not sell homes to [[African American]]s. Levitt did not consider himself to be a [[racism|racist]], considering housing and racial relations entirely separate matters. Initially, the [[Federal Housing Administration]] (FHA) conditioned essential financing for this and similar projects on the restriction of home sales to those of "the [[Caucasian race]]", as stipulated in housing rent and sales agreements and deed [[Covenant (law)|covenants]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Rothstein |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Rothstein |title=[[The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America]] |date=May 2017|publisher=Liveright|isbn=978-1631492853}}</ref> This did not prevent Bea and Lew Wechsler, a Jewish couple from the Bronx, from connecting an African-American family to a neighbor who desired to sell his home. Levittown's first Black couple, William and [[Daisy Myers]], bought a home in the Dogwood Hollow section in 1957.<ref>{{cite web |title=Famous Landmark Documentary On Racism In A United States Neighborhood | date=October 11, 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp22YlJlfHo | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/bp22YlJlfHo| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|via=[[YouTube]] }}{{cbignore}}</ref> Their move to Levittown was marked with racist harassment and mob violence, which required intervention by state authorities.<ref>Chris English, [http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-01112008-1469344.html "Levitt had vision for community"]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Bucks County Courier Times'', 1/11/2008</ref> This led to an [[injunction]] and criminal charges against the harassers while the Myerses and their supporters refused to surrender and received national acclaim for their efforts. For instance, Daisy Myers has been hailed as "The [[Rosa Parks]] of the North",<ref>{{cite web |last=McClure |first=Jim |url=http://www.yorkblog.com/yorktownsquare/2005/10/rosa-parks-of-the-north.html |title=York Town Square |publisher=Yorkblog.com |date=October 26, 2005 |access-date=July 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929114005/http://www.yorkblog.com/yorktownsquare/2005/10/rosa-parks-of-the-north.html |archive-date=September 29, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> who helped expose the northern states' problems with racial inequality of that time. Daisy Myers later wrote a book about her family's experiences.<ref>{{cite web |last=McClure |first=Jim |url=http://www.yorkblog.com/yorktownsquare/2009/05/levittown.html |title=York Town Square |publisher=Yorkblog.com |date=May 23, 2009 |access-date=December 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324215055/http://www.yorkblog.com/yorktownsquare/2009/05/levittown.html |archive-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> She died Dec. 5, 2011, in York, Pa.<ref>York Daily Record/Sunday News. [http://www.ydr.com/history/ci_19488276] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111209004336/http://www.ydr.com/history/ci_19488276|date=2011-12-09}} December 7, 2011. "Daisy Myers, civil rights pioneer, dies at age 86"</ref> The [[NAACP]] and the [[ACLU]] opposed Levitt’s racist policies, and the Federal Housing Administration threatened to refuse mortgages on his next Levittown. Levitt still refused to sell to blacks, and developed plans for yet another whites-only Levittown—this one to be in [[Willingboro Township, New Jersey|Willingboro]] Township, N.J.—while fighting legal challenges in New Jersey courts. Ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case.<ref>[http://forward.com/culture/104767/jew-vs-jew-in-levittown/ Jew vs Jew in Levittown] The Forward, 13 April 2009</ref> 
 
The community's otherwise placid exterior was again disturbed during the so-called [[suburban gas riots]] of June 1979 in the wake of the [[Camp David Peace Accords]], which resulted in a second embargo by Arab oil-producing nations. The unrest occurred June 24–25, 1979, as lines swelled and tempers flared in the heart of Levittown at an intersection known as Five Points, a location then surrounded by six service stations, two of which were severely damaged by vandalism in the riots. The two days of riots made national headlines and were mentioned (although not directly by name) in the draft of an address to the nation that was to have been delivered by President [[Jimmy Carter]] on July 5, 1979.<ref>{{cite web|author=Michael E. Eidenmuller |url=https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jimmycarterundeliveredenergyspeech.htm |title=americanrhetoric.com |publisher=americanrhetoric.com |access-date=July 21, 2011}}</ref>

A baseball team from Levittown won the [[Little League World Series]] in 1960. Levittown American beat an opponent from [[Fort Worth, Texas]], to win the honor.

Of the five public pools built by Levitt & Sons and operated by the [[Levittown Public Recreation Association]] (LPRA), four were closed{{why|date=December 2021}} in 2002, with the exception being one located in the Pinewood section. LPRA Headquarters (and other landmarks) of this prototypical post-war suburb of sometimes mythic importance have been the focus of historic preservation efforts. Since 2002, studies have been underway to establish the Levittown Historic District.

Since its inception in 1988, the Bucks County [[St. Patrick's Day]] Parade has been held in Levittown. Every year, the parade steps off from St Joseph the Worker Church,{{update inline|date=December 2021}} and proceeds two miles (3&nbsp;km) on New Falls Road to [[Conwell-Egan Catholic High School]]. St Joseph the Worker Church has since been torn down.

===Levittown Shopping Center===
''Levittown Shop-a-Rama'', the 1955 Levittown Shopping Center in Tullytown was a 60-acre L-shaped pedestrian mall at the edge rather than the center of Levittown,<ref name="statemuseumpa">{{cite web |title=Levittown, Pa. {{!}} Building the Suburban Dream |url=http://statemuseumpa.org/levittown/two/m.html |website=The State Museum of Pennsylvania |access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref> with two strips of stores faced the 6,000-car parking lot with a courtyard that had green spaces, benches, and entrances to the stores.<ref name="statemuseumpa" /> The center's largest, anchor department store (Pomeroys, which was acquired by [[Boscov's]]) and other chain retailers such as Food Fair, Woolworth's, JC Penney, Kresges, Yards, Lobel's, W.T. Grant, Pep Boys, and Sears were Levitt-favored tenants.<ref name="statemuseumpa" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Jonas |first1=Jerry |title=Pomeroy's department store chronicled in new book |url=https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/article/20141214/OPINION/312149898 |website=Bucks County Courier Times |access-date=3 December 2020 |language=en |date=2014-12-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Levittown |url=https://www.cardcow.com/c/69203/pennsylvania-levittown/ |website=CardCow.com |access-date=3 December 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

The shopping center began a slow decline in the mid-1970s from which it never recovered with the building of the [[Oxford Valley Mall]]. The mall, located just north of Levittown, in [[Langhorne, Pennsylvania|Langhorne]] in [[Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania|Middletown Township]], drew shoppers away from the older Levittown facility, given Oxford Valley's much larger size and enclosed shopping environment. In 2002, the redeveloped site of the Shop-a-rama was reopened as the [[Levittown Town Center]]. The completed facility contains {{convert|468675|sqft}} of retail space.<ref>{{cite web |title=Levittown Town Center - Levittown, PA |url=http://www.dlcmgmt.com/success_levittown.html |website=DLC Management Corp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040824072001/http://www.dlcmgmt.com/success_levittown.html |archive-date=24 August 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Towne Theater in Levittown, PA - Cinema Treasures |url=http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/17438 |website=cinematreasures.org |access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref>