Field of Dreams, 50 Years Later

By Jerry Zezima | Staff Writer

Article tools

E-mail

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Facebook
- Fark
- Google
- Newsvine
- Reddit
- Yahoo

Print
Reprints
Text size:

They were one-tract finds, and they came from a man with a one-track mind: Bill Levitt, the brash developer who practically invented the suburb, lived the dream of building dreams. In 1947, he planted the seeds of modern living in a Nassau potato field. Levittown was born.

More than 17,000 homes dotted the landscape in neat, treeless rows. Here -- in 1947 at right, and today, below -- is a section bordered in both photos by Wolcott Road on the bottom right and Newbridge Road at top left.

Today, the properties have trees, extensions, driveways -- and families. And the dream lives on.

By Jerry Zezima