The Levitt brothers, Alfred and William , developed the model that would change house building forever. After learning how to build homes from their father, Abraham, during W.W.II, they came up with a system to build houses quickly.

Long Island, New York was the beginning of the Levitt Brothers new system of building houses. It was a planned community with houses approximately 60 feet apart. Pre-assembled sections and components were added to concrete slabs in an assembly line routine. In 1947, Levittown, New York was opened and eventually grew to more than 17,000 separate homes.

After Long Island the Levitt brothers bought land in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The farmlands were in the townships of Bristol, Falls, Middletown and the borough of Tullytown. Their company, Levitt & Sons, built houses that became part of the largest planned community in Bucks County. This new suburb, with affordable prices, was built to provide housing for workers in the area around Philadelphia, PA and Trenton, New Jersey, such as U.S. Steel's Fairless Works.

On Route 13 in Tullytown, in 1951, an exhibit center, with samples of three houses was opened. The first style of house was a Levittowner, which sold for $9,990. This style house was on a 70 by 100 foot lot. Eventually houses of different styles, the Jubilee, the Rancher, the Colonial, the Pennsylvanian and the Country Clubber were built, with the most expensive, the Country Clubber, selling for $16,900. Although Levittown, NY was a planned community, Levittown, PA was to be a "self-contained planned community" that included schools, places of worship, recreation areas and shopping facilities. Levitt's plan included landscaping as well as providing a washer, stove and refrigerator in each house.

When signing the agreement of sale, each property owner agreed to no fences around their property, not to change the color of their homes, not to hang laundry out on Sundays and to use and umbrella-type clothes-line when clothes were to be hung out.

Ten weeks after the exhibit center opened, 3500 homes were ordered with the builders completing approximately 200 houses per week.

Young families first occupied Levittown because Levitt made housing affordable. There were many job opportunities at the steel mill and other industrial sites. Forty percent of the homebuyers came from Philadelphia; other homeowners came from other Bucks and Montgomery County locations, upstate Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Levittown, PA had its share of growing pains. In Levittown's early years. Levitt refused to sell homes to blacks. In 1957 a black family purchased a home in the Dogwood Hollow section which sparked much controversy. Mobs gathered outside of the house and threw rocks and bottles, breaking windows. A neighbor who had helped the black family had a cross burned on his lawn. The black family remained in Levittown for a while, but eventually moved away. People joined the Levittown Public Recreation Association (LPRA) and met at one of the neighborhood pools. The Levittown Shop-a-rama opened in 1952 with 90 stores including Woolworth's, Kresge's, Eastern News, Western News, Pomeroy's, Sears, Penneys, and others. Eventually, in 1954, the Country Club Shopping Center was built on Route 1, in Middletown Township.

Levittown spread out over four municipalities, which included parts of Middletown Twp., Falls Twp., Bristol Twp., and Tullytown Borough. As large as Levittown, PA became, it was never incorporated into a city. The layouts of the streets in the neighborhoods help eliminate through traffic. Most streets in a particular section connected to a "Drive" which went around the section. Street names began with the same letter as the name of the section, usually with two sections for each letter. One section of the letter would be "lanes" and the other would be "roads". For example, Sweetbriar Lane would be in the Stonybrook section while Sweetgum Road would be in the Snowball Gate section. The names of the sections were very picturesque such as Goldenridge, Pinewood, Lakeside, Forsythia Gate, and Twin Oaks.

Sections in Levittown, PA included paved streets, street lighting, off-street water, sewer, telephone, and electrical lines; most sections also had sidewalks. Each section also had an open space green area with many sections having a drainage ditch running through them. Levitt made sites available for public schools and recreation areas. Five of the recreation areas included Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Levittown, PA encompasses three school districts: Bristol Twp. School District, Neshaminy School District (which included Middletown Twp.), and the Pennsbury School District (which includes Falls Twp. and Tullytown Borough).

Levittown, Pennsylvania is the "city" that never was. If Bill Levitt had his way, Levittown, PA would have been incorporated as one municipality. It would have been Pennsylvania's tenth largest city. Levitt argued that the four-municipality reality resulted in duplication of public services.

Arguments for and against incorporation usually centered on tax revenues and the ability of an incorporated Levittown to support itself. The issue of incorporation faded away when Levitt & Sons moved across the Delaware River to the next Levittown in New Jersey (which is now called Willingboro).