Various facts and information pertaining to Levittown, Pennsylvania.

1. The average price per acre Levitt and Sons paid for the 1st 1000 acres of land was $1, 800.

2. Levitt and Sons opened the sample homes on Route 13 on December 8th, 1951.
    From "The Wonder Years" by David Diamond, Delaware Valley Magazine, May 1991
"Two weeks before Christmas in 1951, Levitt opened models of the three available houses which ranged in price from $9,900 to $16,900 on Route 13 near the Tullytown station of the Pennsylvania Railroad. More than 30,000 eager house hunters descended upon the sample homes in those initial days, and an equal number was turned away because of the long lines. Within 10 weeks, some 3,500 families had ordered homes in the community that was to stretch out over parts od four municipalities - Falls, Middletown and Bristol Townships, and Tullytown Boro."

3. Construction begins: February 1952
    From Janice Hollenczer Bernath whose father Steven Hollenczer worked for Levitt and Sons:
"My mother told me construction on Levittown started in February 1952, and my father came down to PA (from Long Island, NY) in March of the same year. The guys in February were probably doing the digging and laying the slabs and heating and drainage systems. The actual building began in March, the first houses were ready in June."

4. Mr.& Mrs. Walter Alloy were the 1st family to sign settlement papers.

5. First Official Residents: John and Philomena Dougherty of Philadelphia, moved into Stonybrook, Monday, June 23, 1952. For the first five years on the anniversary of their moving day, Bill Levitt  would Mrs. Dougherty roses, carnations and orchids.

     First Actual Residents : The George Peto family, Stonybrook, June 1952. According to family friend Janice Hollenczer Bernath who's father Steve worked with Mr. Peto at Levitt and Sons, the Peto's moved into their home in early June 1952, under the cover darkness, prior to receiving an official Certificate of Occupancy.

    From Fred Lauver, Assistant Editor, Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine:
"...I did some further checking with the author of a feature on Levittown that will appear in our Spring (2002) issue of "Pennsylvania Heritage" magazine on the issue of the first family in Levittown, Pa. As it turns out, there were 19 families who can unofficially claim to be first residents of Levittown when they moved in on the same day. Some were employees of Levitt and Sons. But it's like designating the millionth customer of a store. Who's to scientifically verify the technically correct version?
  But, Bill Levitt himself has spoken on this issue and he selected John and Philomena Dougherty from those 19 families as the symbolic first residents of Levittown. He chose the Doughertys, partly because they were ordinary people who had no connection whatsoever to the Levitt firm. From this standpoint, since the Levitt's were making all the rules, it is difficult to dispute the official proclamation of the top Levitt."

 6. From J.D. Mullane, Bucks County Courier Times, January 30 1994:
"Construction was of mindboggling proportions: Six thousand men building 17,311 houses, 177 miles of streets, five Olympic-size pools and two shopping centers. By the summer of 1952, Levitt was producing one complete house every 12 minutes. Families were moving in at the rate of 500 a month."

7. Ultimately more than 5,000 acres of land were acquired to build Levittown, Pennsylvania.

8. The total area of Levittown is 22 square miles.

9. Levittown is situated in Bristol, Falls & Middletown Townships and Tullytown Boro.

10. Each Levittown house included:
        General Electric 8 cubic foot refrigerator
        General Electric cooking range
        Bendix de luxe automatic washer
        General Bronze aluninum windows
        U.S. Gypsum rock-wool plus
        Owens-Corning Fiber-Glas insulation
        Tracy all-steel kitchen cabinets
        Tracy stainless steel sink
        Fasco electric ventilating fan
        Thermopane insulated glass
        Briggs colored bath fixtures
        Armstrong porcelain-on-steel wall tile
        Matico floor tile
        York oil-fired radiant heating

11. The first baby born in Levittown was Theresa "Terry" Dunn, July 7, 1952 .

12. Organized sports in Levittown began in March 1953 when Irving Olin and Charlie Green organized the "Levittown Little Baseball League". 

The first try-outs were held on a cold March day in the fields behind what later became the James Buchanan Elementary School. Just 100 boys between 8 -12 tried out for the 60 spots in the new league. There where 4 original teams, managed by Joe Giambelluca, Walt Wideman, Joe "Pep" Aversano and Danny Pittaro.
        From an article by Joe Gross, Bucks County Courier Times, June 19, 1972.

13. The Levittown Shopping Center opens on October 15, 1953 with 26 stores.

14. There 4 are known family gravesites in Levittown that pre-existed the construction and
      were left untouched during construction.
       1. Located in a wooded section of Rust Hill Road in Red Rose Gate. It sits on land once the
          "Plantation" of Peter Barnson Vanhorn who owned much of what are now Snowball Gate,
           Upper Orchard and Juniper Hill.
       2. Located on homeowners front yard near the intersection of Silver Spruce Rd and
           Snowball Drive. A little hill marks the burial vaults location. (Owned by John Hellings in 1796) 
       3. Graveyard at the end of Frosty Hollow Rd. Two tombstones remain and is guarded by a
           thicket of bush and a stone wall surrounded by trees behind the houses of Durham Chase.
           (Owned by Richard Rue)
       4. Bolton Farm family plot behind an ivy covered stone wall are the graves of the Pemberton-Morris
           family, former residents of Bolton farm in Holly Hill and a monument stands in the center of the 
           stone wall burial ground. Visible from Levittown Parkway at top of Holly Hill.
       5. Bordering Levittown up the road from Pemberton-Morris family is another stone walled
           cemetery on Oxford Valley Rd in Fairless Hills. (Rowland Burial ground and traditionally
           known as the old Watson graveyard at Oxford).
         From an article by Diane Villano, Bucks County Courier Times, October 31, 2002.

15. The swimming pools were:
        Country Club Pool in Forsythia Gate
        Pinelake Pool between Pinewood and Lakeside
        Magnolia Pool between Magnolia and Elderberry Pond
        Indian Creek Pool in Indian Creek
        Brook Pool in Stonybrook

16. There are rumors of homes in Snowball Gate, Indian Creek, Oaktree, Red Cedar, Thornridge and Appletree having Bomb Shelters built in their yards during the "Cold War" days of the late 50's and early 60's. 

One of the visitors to the Levittown Forum wrote: "When I was in the boy scouts, our troop leader, who lived in Snowball Gate, had a bomb shelter just off his driveway. Once in a while during scout meetings, he would take us on tours of the place. All I can remember was it had a small stairway down and 3 or 4 small rooms with a bunch of supplies in each room. This guy was hardcore, ready for the apocalypse."

17.  The first telephone installed in a Levittown home was installed on August 26, 1952 in the home of Dr. Marvin Browndorf, 50 Serpentine Lane in Stonybrook. Some 250-300 telephones were "pre-installed" weeks before phone cables were run on the telephone poles that stood in back yards. 
(From The Bucks County Courier Times "Today in Levittown 1952" 8/26/2002)

If you have any facts to add or see anything that isn't correct, please e-mail me!

levittown@hotmail.com