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The Great Levittown Essay

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The Great Levittown Impact

The third listing for the definition of sprawl in the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is as follows: “to spread or develop irregularly”. Unfortunately, this is the pattern, or lack thereof, with which America’s development is following. Every single day the world population rises, and these new babies have to live somewhere. Due to the fact that the birth rate is larger than that of the death rate in America (http://www.bartleby.com/151/a24.html), new homes and communities must be developed to accommodate all of the incoming people. This fundamental concept is coupled by another very powerful driving force prompting people to live in the suburbs of America, and that is greed. The economy makes …show more content…

This leader provided the town with sustenance, protection, and leadership that the people needed to function properly. As the town’s diameter grew larger towards the city walls, space became scarce, and the walls were knocked down and expanded to accommodate more people. And when the town grew too big for its walls, another town was created in a new location. As time progressed, so did the expansion of human developments and technology. Man developed the boat, the railroad system, and most importantly, the steam engine. These things greatly broadened the horizons of travel, trade, and economic prosperity. In the mid 1800’s, America experienced the start of the industrial revolution, and wealth became abundant to the merchant class (the owners of product developing companies). With this new wealth, the business leaders found that life in the busy cities was not to their liking, so they began the suburban movement to the country. Here they found life to be much more tolerable and rewarding. However, this life was only shared among the economically elite, (which was only a fraction of the total population), and did not see a massive interest until William Levitt created Levittown.

William Levitt was the son of an architect, and the brother of a businessman. He was a dreamer on a grand scale, and happened to concoct one of the most influential and prosperous business decisions in

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