Levittown Tract Housing
The first tract housing in the United States was built in Levittown, New York. The city itself was named after the building firm Levitt and Sons headed by Abraham Levitt and his sons William and Alfred.
The town was built on what used to be potato farms and while they were not a manufactured home, each home was built with speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness in mind. The homes were all built on concrete slabs and utilized pre-cut lumber shipped from California. By July, 1948 30 houses a day were being constructed. Half of the first 2,000 homes were rented within two days.
Levitt and Sons decided to introduce a ranch home in 1949 that would be for rent, not for sale. The home would be larger, more modern and sale for $7,990. The homes were also built on a concrete slab, but included an attic, but no garage. Radiant heating was also included. There were five models available, but the only actually difference were window placement and exterior color choice. By 1950 the new models included a car port and a built-in television set and the 1951 model included a partially finished attic. Over 17,500 homes were built in the area by 1951.
Three other communities were built in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico.
I remember how the intellectuals in their tiny dark New York apartments made so much fun of these developments. The people who lived in them raised their families in a place they loved and the kids came back to live there too.
Its my first time to know about this Levittown Tract Housing. I have no idea that there was a town houses like these in new york. All i know were in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This history of housing was really kind of short but informative in a way how a developer improve their manafactured homes from time to time.