Kidsville, USA
CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN LEVITTOWN

"We busted at the seams with kids."
Levittown school official

Mother with children. [Urban Archives, Temple University]

From its baseball fields and pools to its schools and sidewalks, Levittown during the 1950s teemed with children.

"Levittown will have more recreation areas per square inch than any other community."
William J. Levitt

Levitt designed his development to be "kid friendly." Limited access and curved streets helped to reduce and slow traffic through sections so that children could play more safely. Levittown­s recreational facilities were primarily for the benefit of children. On any given summer day, both the LPRA swimming pools and its Little League baseball fields were packed with kids.

Backyard Life

With dozens of children on every block, friendships formed quickly. These photos were taken in the Indian Creek and Crabtree Hollow sections in 1956 and 1957.

"Friends."	A birthday party in a typical Levittown backyard. [Abbe Feinberg]

Little League

With thousands of preadolescent boys, Levittown was a hotbed of Little League Baseball. In 1960, players from Levittown American League advanced to the finals of the Little League World Series in Williamsport and took the banner home to Bucks County. [Little League Baseball Museum]

Walt Disney Elementary

Schools rank second only to homes as the principal focus of interest and attention in Levittown. For many, schools were the drawing card in their move to the development...
Levittown school brochure

One of eight public elementary schools built by 1955, Walt Disney Elementary was the first school in the country named for the popular animator. In September, Disney came to Levittown for the dedication.

Walt Disney at dedication ceremony for the elementary school named in his honor. Disney's name had been chosen by the students themselves. [Jerry Jonas]	A crowd of 7000 await Walt Disney's arrival at the Tullytown train station. [Jerry Jonas]
Schedule for Dedication Day, Walt Disney Elementary School. [Walt Disney Elementary School]

With new families arriving almost every weekend, there were always new students waiting to register on Monday mornings.

Bicycle contest winners.	School children at Walt Disney School.
Children at Walt Disney, lined up outside. [Walt Disney Elementary School, Levittown]

Learning Lane

Levittown schools brochure. [John Fitch Elementary]

Elementary schools were located at the center of each master block so that no school-age child would have to cross a busy intersection, or walk more than a mile from his or her home. Levitt's emphasis on rationally planned, centrally located public elementary schools was a major draw for early residents, most of whom had young children.

Children look out onto a housing section from inside a newly built elementary school. [Urban Archives, Temple University]

Levittown's first elementary school, John Fitch, served children living in the Stonybrook, Greenbrook, Farmbrook and Dogwood Hollow sections. [John Fitch Elementary]