When were the first suburbs built?

Levittown in Long Island, New York, is widely recognized as the first modern American suburb. Levitt and Sons, a construction company, purchased a 7-square-mile plot of potato and onion farms in Long Island in 1947. They set out to build one of the first uniform suburban community in the US.

What was the first suburb in America?

Levittown
In 1947, William Levitt of Levitt & Sons began building mass-produced, affordable housing for veterans returning from World War II. Island Trees, or Levittown as it later became known, is widely recognized as the first modern American suburb.

Why did suburbs develop in the US?

The growth of suburbs resulted from several historical forces, including the social legacy of the Depression, mass demobilization after the War (and the consequent “baby boom”), greater government involvement in housing and development, the mass marketing of the automobile, and a dramatic change in demographics.

Who invented the American suburb?

William Jaird Levitt
William Jaird Levitt (February 11, 1907 – January 28, 1994) was an American real-estate developer and housing pioneer. As president of Levitt & Sons, he is widely credited as the father of modern American suburbia. He was named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century.”

Why were suburbs formed in the 1950s?

The Automobile Shapes the Suburbs The car influenced both the physical layout of the development and the daily lives of its residents. Phillip Klutznick (a former commissioner of the Federal Public Housing Authority) and his American Community Builders created the planned community of Park Forest.

What was the American dream in the 1950’s?

What is the American dream of the 1950s? In the 1950s, the American Dream was to have a perfect family, a secure job, and a perfect house in the suburbs.

What was the first suburb?

Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country. William Levitt, who assumed control of Levitt & Sons in 1954, is considered the father of modern suburbia in the United States.

Why did suburbs became popular in the 1950’s?

In the 1950s, as new suburbs prospered and spread across postwar America, cities suffered. Rising car and truck ownership made it easier for businesses and middle- and working-class white residents to flee to the suburbs, leaving behind growing poor and minority populations and fiscal crises.

Why was the 50s called The Golden Age?

The 50’s was an era called the Golden Age of Capitalism, a period of unprecedented economic growth that benefited both the capitalists and workers, as result of higher wages.

What percentage of the American population lived in the suburbs by 1970?

By 1970 more than half of the metropolitan residents lived in suburban communities—including 20 to 40 percent of the poor in some areas. In 1980, the suburban portion of the 15 largest metropolitan areas ranged from 83.7 percent in Boston to 45.1 percent in Houston.

When did Americans start moving to the suburbs?

Mass migration to suburban areas was a defining feature of American life after 1945. Before World War II, just 13\% of Americans lived in suburbs. By 2010, however, suburbia was home to more than half of the U.S. population.

Where did the modern suburb come from?

Although it is widely assumed that the “modern” suburb grew out of the need for housing for soldiers returning from World War II, the story can actually be traced back several decades earlier and across the Atlantic Ocean, in late 19th-century London.

What were the first suburbs in the post war era?

Whites fleeing the desegregation of urban cities brought on by the civil rights movement (the “White Flight”) Some of the first and most famous suburbs in the post-war era were the Levittown developments in the Megalopolis . In other parts of the world suburbs do not resemble the affluence of their American counterparts.

What is the history of London’s suburban growth?

A major catalyst for suburban growth was the opening of the Metropolitan Railway in the 1860s. The line later joined the capital’s financial heart in the City to what were to become the suburbs of Middlesex.