William Levitt and Sons, Belair-at-Bowie

William Levitt and Sons, Belair-at-Bowie. . The Levitt family revolutionized the building industry beginning in the 1920s. During World War II they created an efficient production-line assembly of houses establishing the post-war look of American suburbs. The first Levittown of Long Island appealed to returning veteran s and their families with low interest G.I. loans. More Levittowns followed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with smaller developments in Maryland, Virginia ,Florida, Puerto Rico and France. , In August 1957 William J. Levitt paid $1,750,000 for the historic Belair estate. The Levitt firm persuaded the Bowie town commissioners to annex the new 2,200 acre development, and Levitt built thousands of moderately priced houses during the 1960s and 1970s. houses rose on concrete slabs in assembly line fashion, finishing six to ten a day. Each house included a complete kitchen, laundry, with washer and dryer, and central air conditioning. , Here on Sussex Lane the Levitt corporation presented six house styles built as the model show homes. The Manor House at the end of the street with the columns was dropped, but the Cape Cod, Rancher, 3-bedroom and 4 bedroom colonial and country clubber models formed a self-contained community divided into distinctive alphabetical cluster neighborhoods.