Levittown is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York.

[citation needed] The Levitt firm began before World War II, as a builder of custom homes in upper middle-class communities on Long Island.

William "Bill" Levitt served in the Navy in the Seabees – the service's construction battalions – and developed expertise in the mass-produced building of military housing using uniform and interchangeable parts.

He was insistent that a postwar building boom would require similar mass-produced housing, and was able to purchase options on large swaths of onion and potato fields in undeveloped sections of Long Island.

[7] Returning to the firm after war's end, Bill Levitt persuaded his father and brother to embrace the utilitarian system of construction he had learned in the Navy.

Levitt & Sons built the community with an eye towards speed, efficiency, and cost-effective construction; these methods led to a production rate of 30 houses a day by July 1948.

[8] They used pre-cut lumber and nails shipped from their own factories in Blue Lake, California, and built on concrete slabs, as they had done in a previous planned community in Norfolk, Virginia.

His mass production of thousands of houses at virtually the same time allowed Levitt to sell them, with kitchens fully stocked with modern appliances, and a television in the living room, for as little as $8,000 each (equal to $109,162 today), which, with the G.I.

As demand continued, exceeding availability, the Levitts expanded their project with 4,000 more homes, as well as community services, including schools and postal delivery.

The resulting surge in demand pressed the firm to further expand its development, which changed its name from Island Trees to Levittown shortly thereafter.

Levittown was designed to provide a large amount of housing at a time when there was a high demand for affordable family homes.

In 1952, Carl Sigman, who was running as the Democratic candidate for County Executive, stated that he felt it would be wise for Levittown to incorporate itself as a city.

This "restrictive covenant" stated in capital letters and bold type that the house could not "be used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race.

In 1948 the United States Supreme Court, in Shelley v. Kraemer, declared that property deeds stipulating racial segregation were "unenforceable as law and contrary to public policy".

[19][13] Starting primarily in the 2010s, Levittown's demographics have been shifting as it has been attracting middle-class South Asian and Hispanic residents to the community.

While the Levitts are generally credited with designing a postwar "planned community," with common public amenities such as swimming pools and community centers, they were quick to release these high-maintenance, low-profit elements to the surrounding towns; the development sprawled across municipal boundaries, causing legal and administrative difficulties and requiring major initiatives within those existing municipalities to provide for and fund schools, sewage and water systems, and other infrastructure elements.

On November 9, 2007, Levitt & Sons of Fort Lauderdale became the nation's largest builder to file for bankruptcy as the housing market boom of the early 21st century continued to crumble.

Although Levittown provided affordable houses in what many residents felt to be a congenial community, critics decried its homogeneity and blandness.

Today, "Levittown" is used as a term to describe overly sanitized suburbs consisting largely of identical housing.

Bill Yeingst, a historian with Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Domestic Life Division,[22] said "An original ranch model would be ideal.

Levittown has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa) and average monthly temperatures in the central CDP in the vicinity of Hempstead Turnpike (NY 24) and Jerusalem Avenue range from 31.6 °F (−0.2 °C) in January to 74.5 °F (23.6 °C) in July.

[25] A small portion of the northwest corner of the hamlet is served by the East Meadow Union Free School District.

[25][34] The Island Trees Union Free School District serves northeastern Levittown, and portions of Bethpage, Seaford and Plainedge.

[25][35] In 1982, Island Trees gained national attention from the United States Supreme Court case Board of Education v. Pico.

Wantagh Parkway marks the western border of Levittown, with an exit onto Loring Road, a north–south local roadway.

[39] Founded in 1956 by Homer K. Moore as a means for transport for the residents of Wantagh and Levittown, WLVAC provides emergency care on ambulances staffed with trained volunteers.