Expansion Suburbs

• Suburbs

  • 17% of Americans lived in them
  • Mid 1940's- 11 million out of the 13 million homes built between 1948 and 1958 were in the suburbs
  • 1960- 33% of Americans were suburbanites- mostly middle-class whites in ranch houses with double garages, 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms and large lawns
• 1.Explanation of the growth of suburbia

  • There was a little house building in the 1930's/WW2- led to a post-war housing shortage - 250 old streetcars were sold as homes in Chicago
• 1.Explanation of the growth of suburbia

  • The shortage and easily available mortgages combined to encourage builders to construct more homes
• 1.Explanation of the growth of suburbia

  • The Federal Housing Administration & Veterans Administration offered house buyers mortgages of up to 90% of the value of a home and up to 30 years to pay them off at a low interest rate+
  • 1944-52- The VA allowed nearly 2.4 million Second World War Veterans to purchase homes with virtually no down payment +
  • 1955- FHA & VA provided 41% of all new mortgages which contributed to the rising % of owner-occupied homes (43%-1940/61.9%-1960)
• 2. Explanation of the growth of suburbia

  • Land and new homes were cheaper in suburban areas than cities
• 3. Explanation of the growth of suburbia

  • Increased car ownership and Federal highway construction made it easy for suburbanites to commute to work
• 4.Explanation of the growth of suburbia

  • inner-city populations of poorer blacks and whites, higher tax rates, noise and congestion, more affluent whites preferred spacious and comfortable homes in racially and economically homogeneous neighbourhoods
  • This middle-class white exit from the inner cities- 'White Flight'
  • More of the population moved to the suburbs- were followed by retail services
• Levittowns

  • Construction began- first developed in Hempstead, Long Island- 1947
  • built primarily for young veterans
  • Hempstead- 17,000 homes/80,000 residents, 7 village greens & shopping centres, 9 swimming pools & 2 bowling alleys
  • Residents were expected to conform to rules stipulating weekly lawn moving, no fences & no washing hung out on weekends
• Levittowns


  • So popular that when they went on sale- people formed queues to buy them+
  • Hempstead homes priced around $8,000- (2 and 1/2 times the average family income)
  • They were well-constructed with central heating & built in closets on 60 by 100 foot lots that were twice the normal size
  • Most suburban Americans loved their spacious homes with modern bathrooms, gadget-filled kitchens & attached garages
• Levittowns


  • Racially exclusive- rocks were thrown at a black American family that bought a house in Pennsylvania 1957- state authorities had to intervene
  • It was 1960 before Levittown house was sold to a black family in New Jersey
  • William Levitt defended the exclusion of black Americans from Levittowns