In my little town...While combing through my bookmarks for something I was reminded of an historical archive site memorializing Levittown, Pennsylvania.
Of course, the masthead image predates not only my family's 1966 arrival in Levittown by 14 years, but predates me by 9, but how could I pass up using that 1952 image complete with a sign that looks as if it's a low budget horror movie title card?
Since I did most of my growing up there, moving in when I was five and not really leaving the area for a couple decades, it represents a large chunk of my life.
They've compiled a nice document - more in-depth than it seems at first. Click on the series of "next" spots and it'll pull you through the online exhibit.
Many of the shots blow me away because they show so many places either in pre-construction or when they were fresh and new that no longer exist, from the community pools (there were five) run by the Levittown Public Recreation Association...
To the "Shop-A-Rama", a pedestrian, concourse shopping center...
...which was one of the stops for presidential candidates in the 1960 race, when the everyman housing of Levittown created a strong Democratic (and Roman Catholic) voting bloc, swinging a formerly strongly Republican Bucks County in Kennedy's favor.
Eventually I might scan in some of my own shots, but for now I'll make use of part of the exhibit to show you the jubilee style home I grew up in:
...marking these larger, two-story homes as the ones built late in the process. Ours was built in the style of the top right design.The last Levittown development house was built sometime in 1957. As I understand it when we moved into the Indian Creek section we became the second family to live in that house.
For anyone who grew up in Levittown, especially years back, this is quite a trip.
I was reminded (Thanks, Dwight) to check Wikipedia, which has an excellent entry on it, including some wonderful source links.
So, have you found a similar artifact for a town you grew up in?
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Comments
And if you count Wikipedia as "official", then I'd argue the site there is still "under construction/renovation".
What's there now- is it a Home Depot?
I saw a documentary on Sundance Channel or IFC about the town. And before that, it's been mention in "Zippy" since Bill Griffith is from there, too. And it's perfect for his ironic comments about consumerism.
CL: Right. The area was levelled anew, and now has completely new businesses and nothing of the old foundation layout.
Tony: I knew about the Zippy connection and references, but must have missed the documentary. Since New York received the first Levittown the specials I've seen have tended to be split between the two places and focusing more on the commonalities and the projects as a sociological concept and experiment rather than individual places.