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RATINGS: Sites are rated from 1 owl (good) to a high of 5 owls. Read more- This Is Levittown
Long Island History presents the history of the man they refer to as the "Dream Builder." William Levitt and his affordable, assembly-line homes brought people out of the cities in droves. Read about the milkmen, block parties, and the first suburban community created in Levittown.
- Affluenza
PBS takes a humorous look at a distinctively American disease that first really plagued the country in the 1950s: affluenza. Affluenza is partially defined as the "unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses." The site has some neat, campy, '50s-era graphics and plenty of amazing facts. For example, today's typical three-car garage occupies the same square footage as the average 1950s home. Be sure to take the diagnostic test to see if you have this "affliction."
- The Rise of the Patio Culture
Was Levittown a case of extreme "civic disintegration," as contemporary critics warned, or did it succeed as a social experiment? Read this well-thought-out essay by a fan of suburbia, who claims the faults of Levittown have been overstated considering the greater cultural and social changes of the 1950s. Take some time to poke around the site by using the menu at the bottom of the page: listen to "exotica," get some good grilling recipes, and find out why kids torture insects.
- Norman Rockwell: Pictures for the American People
Norman Rockwell once said, "I paint life as I would like it to be." This website (which completes a traveling exhibition of Rokwell's works) displays Rockwell's vision, which defined the "average American family" for decades, to a modern audience. See samples of Rockwell's work and read a biography of the famous artist. Don't miss the "Family Fun" section — the free Adobe Acrobat reader is needed to download it, but it contains a ton of fun activities.
- Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956: Creating the Interstate System
An exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair described 14-lane superhighways crisscrossing the nation with cars traveling at speeds of up to 160 mph. Although that vision has not been realized, the creation of the American interstate system made it possible for people to live farther from work and greatly affected where Americans decided to live. This illustrated history of the interstate highway system — provided by the Federal Highway Administration — highlights the evolution of the American highway.
Suburban Growth
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