Levittown is closing in on 70 years

Levittown, the colossal planned housing development spanning 5,500 acres and parts of four municipalities in Lower Bucks County, is almost seven decades old.
And David Marable will always be grateful he’s been a part of almost all of it.
As the community of 17,311 houses masterminded by Bill Levitt and designed by his brother Alfred celebrates its 69th birthday this year, Marable has continued to stay busy in his unofficial role of Levittown historian.
Except for his time at college and a short stint in the military, Marable has been a Levittown resident since the first houses there opened for occupancy in 1952. After growing up in the Willow Wood section in Falls Township, the retired Pennsbury School District art teacher now lives in the Snowball Gate section in Middletown Township, where he has also turned the former house of one of his sons into what he calls the Levittown Exhibit Center.
It includes hundreds of photos and other items commemorating the community’s history. Marable hopes the items will someday be part of a Levittown museum open to the public.
For now, he shows the items to visitors by appointment, an activity he has dedicated to his late wife Pam, who died earlier this year.
“She was my inspiration to continue the history of Levittown with events throughout the area,” Marable said.
For him, Levittown is the perfect place to live, and he has dedicated much of his life to preserving and sharing its history.
“It’s because of the neighbors I met growing up and how they were so friendly and kind,” Marable said. “Just the camaraderie of neighbors, it left a great impression on me.”
With several different house models of varying sizes, Levittown is and always will be a place for families at all different stages, he noted.
“You start out with a family with one child in one model, and as your family grew and you grew in your work and expertise, you could move to one of the larger ones,” said Marable.
And it’s far from just a huge collection of houses but a community in the truest sense of the word, he added. The Levitts carefully planned for and constructed not only houses but also parks, schools, churches, public swimming pools and other amenities when building Levittown from 1952 to 1958.
“A symbol of the American dream, Levittown defined the phenomenon of post World War II suburban developments, which for the first time gave working and middle-class families the option of affordable, detached houses outside congested urban neighborhoods,” wrote Levittown natives Richard Wagner and Amy Duckett Wagner in their book “Images of America: Levittown.”
In the community’s formative years, the houses ranged in price from about $9,000 to $16,900, with mortgages available for as low as $60 a month.
“Levittown was a melting pot, attracting people from cities, rural areas and all walks of life, including many World War II veterans and young families,” the Wagners added in their book.
The history of Levittown is not without its clouds. The arrival of the first African-American family there in 1957, the Myers, was met with protests. The family bought from a previous owner because Levitt’s offices did not sell homes to African-Americans at the time.
That practice has been heavily criticized and condemned in the years since. Bill Levitt and other family members always contended it was not because they were racists but that selling to African-Americans would have hurt business too much.
“That (not selling to African-Americans) was a horrifying and embarrassing part of our history,” said Bucks County Commissioners Chairwoman Diane Ellis-Marseglia, who has lived for many years in the Highland Park section of Levittown in Middletown Township.

“I hope our new Bucks County African-American museum has information and an exhibit on the Myers, to educate people and help make sure nothing like what happened to them ever happens again.”
Nevertheless, Marseglia said she enjoys living in Levittown very much.
“I grew up in Lower Makefield, but got really interested in the Levittown concept studying sociology at the University of Delaware,” she said. “When I got married, a Levittown home was the only one we could afford.
“I think the houses there are great for young families and also great as you age, and my house is within walking distance of just about anything I need to do. And, I’m so happy to now be part of a diverse neighborhood, with people of all different races, nationalities and religions.”
Marable and Marseglia are part of a multitude of people who have special places in their hearts for Levittown.
Middletown Township-based Realtor Robin Kemmerer grew up in the Lakeside (Falls Township) and Cobalt Ridge (Middletown) sections and estimates she has helped clients buy or sell more than 1,000 Levittown houses in the 42 years of running her real estate business.
“I love everything about Levittown,” she said. “The first time I ever fished and ice skated was at Levittown Lake. It was great going to the pool right down the street. It was just awesome growing up in Levittown. It was a wonderful experience.”
Kemmerer’s story is typical of Levittown. Her father was a coal miner in upstate Pennsylvania before landing a job at the U.S. Steel Plant in Fairless Hills, finding an affordable Levittown home and moving the family south.
Fairless Hills, which borders Levittown and preceded it as a planned community, is celebrating its 70th birthday this year.
The popularity of Levittown doesn’t seem to wane much as many of the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of original homeowners choose to remain there. The average price of a Levittown house is now about $300,000, Kemmerer estimated, and some go for more than a half-million dollars. Her firm recently put under contract a Country Clubber, the largest Levittown house model prevalent in the community’s Middletown Township sections, for $530,000.
“Levittown homes are a great value,” Kemmerer said. “They are well built and great homes to raise families in. I think they’re the best value out there.
“I’m still friends with everyone from Levittown. There’s a group of us called the Cobalt Ridgers who still get together a few times a year. Growing up in Levittown was a wonderful bonding experience. I feel sorry for many kids today who don’t get that kind of experience.”
She will get no argument from Marable, who has remained steadfast in his mission of collecting as many Levittown artifacts as possible.
During the celebration of Levittown’s 50th birthday in 2002, he lent items to the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission for its Levittown exhibit, and also wrote a book titled “The Dream of America, Circa 1950s.”
Marable recently donated items for a Levittown display at the Falls Township Senior Center, and also donated the flagstone from the original Levittown train station in Tullytown Borough, which is now on display at the newly-renovated station.
“I’ve had people from the Phillipines come to look at the Levittown collection,” he said. “I have someone coming from NYU (New York University). It seems there are more people out of Levittown who are interested than in Levittown.
“But everybody walks out with memories and a smile. That’s what it’s all about for me. I owe everything to the Levitts because as you age, you look back and see how you have developed and how the community has helped to reinforce your development.”

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