192-726: Levittown is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County , on Long Island , in New York . It is a suburb of New York City , located halfway between the villages of Hempstead and Farmingdale . The CDP had a total population of 51,758 at the time of the 2020 census, making it the most populous unincorporated CDP in Nassau County and the second most populous CDP on Long Island, behind Brentwood . Levittown gets its name from its builder,
384-521: A Broadway reviewer at the Tribune in 1951. However, the paper's losses were continuing to mount. Whitelaw Reid was gradually replaced by his brother, Ogden R. Reid , nicknamed "Brown", to take charge of the paper. As president and publisher of the paper, Brown Reid tried to interject an energy his brother lacked and reach out to new audiences. In that spirit, the Tribune ran a promotion called "Tangle Towns", where readers were invited to unscramble
576-402: A 30-year mortgage with no down payment and monthly costs the same as rental. 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. This suburban development would become
768-401: A Protestant paper and a paper more representative of the suburbs than the ethnic mix of the city", according to one later reporter, the Tribune generally did not match the comprehensiveness of The New York Times ' coverage. Its national, international and business coverage, however, was generally viewed as among the best in the industry, as was its overall style. At one time or another,
960-531: A Scottish immigrant who came to the United States aged 24. Bennett, a firm Democrat , had established a name in the newspaper business in the 1820s with dispatches sent from Washington, D.C., to the New York Enquirer , most sharply critical of President John Quincy Adams and Secretary of State Henry Clay ; one historian called Bennett "the first real Washington reporter". Bennett was also
1152-419: A badge of honor". Reid's hostility to labor led him to bankroll Ottmar Mergenthaler 's development of the linotype machine in 1886, which quickly spread throughout the industry. However, his day-to-day involvement in the operations of the Tribune declined after 1888, when he was appointed Minister to France and largely focused on his political career; Reid even missed a large-scale 50th anniversary party for
1344-518: A clear, lively style, and pushed the Herald Tribune ' s local coverage "to a new kind of social journalism that aimed at capturing the temper and feel of the city, its moods and fancies, changes or premonitions of change in its manners, customs, taste, and thought—daily helpings of what amounted to urban anthropology". The Herald Tribune ' s editorials remained conservative—"a spokesman for and guardian of mainstream Republicanism" —but
1536-506: A county administrator, who acts on behalf of the legislature, the legislature must maintain ultimate control over the actions of the administrator. Many, but not all, charter counties have an elected executive who is independent of the legislature; the exact form of government is defined in the County Charter. In New York, each city is a highly autonomous incorporated area that, with the exceptions of New York City and Geneva ,
1728-627: A day. If I say the feature is black beetles, black beetles it's going to be." In 1874, the Herald ran the infamous New York Zoo hoax , where the front page of the newspaper was devoted entirely to a fabricated story of animals getting loose at the Central Park Zoo . Whitelaw Reid, who won control of the Tribune in part due to the likely assistance of financier Jay Gould , turned the newspaper into an orthodox Republican organ, wearing "its stubborn editorial and typographical conservatism…as
1920-576: A donor to provide the funds so that we could secure a Levittown house." He noted that "The stories played out in suburban Levittown are the stories of America. They are stories important to everyone." Although "None of this is set in concrete," according to Yeingst, "the Levittown house would be dismantled at the site, transported to Washington and reconstructed. Then it would be exhibited along with other innovations in American home life." According to
2112-571: A dozen correspondents in the field, the most famous of whom was Homer Bigart . Allowing wire services to write "big picture" stories, Bigart—who covered the Anzio Campaign , the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa —focused instead on writing about tactical operations conducted by small units and individual soldiers, in order to "bring a dimension of reality and understanding to readers back home". Frequently risking his life to get
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#17327823396452304-643: A house in Levittown if they were aware they would have black neighbors. An opposition group was formed, the Committee to End Discrimination in Levittown, to protest the restricted sale of Levittown homes, and to push for an integrated community. 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". Only well after
2496-464: A household in the community was $ 124,995, and the median income for a family was $ 132,887 (these figures had risen from $ 95,979 and $ 99,845 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $ 94,803 versus $ 79,962 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $ 45,917. 1.0% of the population and 0.1% of families were below the poverty line . Out of the total population, 0.2% of those under
2688-642: A land-use classification for private land under its Adirondack Park Land Use and Development Plan (APLUDP). The APLUDP extends the boundaries for its classification of hamlets "well beyond established settlements" to allow for growth. In New York, a village is an incorporated area. About 85% of villages fall within a single town. Villages in the State of New York are classified by the Census Bureau as incorporated places . Like all municipal corporations, villages have clearly defined legal boundaries. A village
2880-533: A long association with the Reids. Whitney, recently named ambassador to Great Britain, had chaired Dwight Eisenhower 's fundraising campaigns in 1952 and 1956 and was looking for something else to engage him beyond his largely ceremonial role in Great Britain. Whitney, who "did not want the Tribune to die", gave the newspaper $ 1.2 million over the objections of his investment advisors, who had doubts about
3072-597: A major role in the Reids' sale of the Herald Tribune in 1958. Seeking to cut costs during the Recession of 1937 , the newspaper's management decided to consolidate its foreign coverage under Laurence Hills, who had been appointed editor of the Paris Herald by Frank Munsey in 1920 and kept the paper profitable. But Hills had fascist sympathies—the Paris Herald was alone among American newspapers in having "ad columns sprout(ing) with swastikas and fasces —and
3264-417: A mayor and (usually) four trustees. The board is responsible for approving mayoral appointments, managing village finances and property, and approving a budget. The mayor, who is generally the chief executive of the village, may vote in all business before the board and must vote to break a tie. The mayor generally does not possess veto power, unless this is provided for by local law. Administrative duties of
3456-565: A means for transport for the residents of Wantagh and Levittown, WLVAC provides emergency care on ambulances staffed with trained volunteers. Levittown is protected by three volunteer fire departments , the Levittown Fire Department with 231 members operating out of 3 stations, Station 3 of the East Meadow Fire Department which covers portions of Levittown west of Division Avenue, and Station 2 of
3648-533: A moral mission to uplift society, and frequently focused his energies on the newspaper's editorials—"weapons…in a ceaseless war to improve society" —and political coverage. While a lifelong opponent of slavery and, for time, a proponent of socialism , Greeley's attitudes were never exactly fixed: "The result was a potpourri of philosophical inconsistencies and contradictions that undermined Greeley's effectiveness as both logician and polemicist." However, his moralism appealed to rural America; with six months of beginning
3840-559: A new company called Whitney Communications Corporation, proved profitable, but executives chafed at subsidizing the Tribune. Thayer also looked for new leadership for the newspaper. In 1961—the same year Whitney returned to New York—the Tribune hired John Denson, a Newsweek editor and native of Louisiana who was "a critical mass of intensity and irascibility relieved by interludes of amiability." Denson had helped raise Newsweek's circulation by 50 percent during his tenure, in part through innovative layouts and graphics, and he brought
4032-544: A new plan which it termed a " ranch " house. Larger, 32 by 25 feet (9.8 by 7.6 m), and more modern, these homes were only offered for sale, with a planned price of $ 7,990 (equal to $ 102,317 today). The ranch homes were similar to the rental properties in that they were built on concrete slabs, included an expandable attic but no garage, and were heated with hot-water radiant heating pipes. Five models were offered that were effectively identical with differences in details such as exterior color and window placement. Again, demand
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#17327823396454224-510: A pioneer in crime reporting; while writing about a murder trial in 1830, the attorney general of Massachusetts attempted to restrict the coverage of the newspapers: Bennett criticized the move as an "old, worm-eaten, Gothic dogma of the Court...to consider the publicity given to every event by the Press, as destructive to the interests of law and justice". The fight over access eventually overshadowed
4416-517: 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. In 1949, Levitt and Sons changed focus, unveiling
4608-494: A public duty rather than developed as a profit-making opportunity". With its generally marginal profitability, the Herald Tribune had few opportunities to reinvest in its operations as the Times did, and the Reids' mortgage on the newspaper made it difficult to raise outside cash for needed capital improvements. After another profitable year in 1946, Bill Robinson, the Herald Tribune ' s business manager, decided to reinvest
4800-599: A reputation of being an affordable, family-centered community. Levittown has become so ingrained in American culture that the Smithsonian Institution in Washington has expressed interest in displaying an entire Levittown house. Bill Yeingst, a historian with Smithsonian's National Museum of American History Domestic Life Division, said "An original ranch model would be ideal. We would like someone to donate their Levittown house, or we would like to find
4992-451: A result of the new technology. Publishers were willing to protect jobs and reduce the workforce through attrition, but balked at what they viewed as "tribute payments" to the unions. After nearly a five-month strike, the unions and the publishers reached an agreement in March, 1963—in which the unions won a weekly worker wage and benefit increase of $ 12.63 and largely forestalled automation—and
5184-476: A result, American veterans who wished to purchase a home in Levittown were unable to do so if they were black. William Levitt attempted to justify their decision to only sell homes to white families by saying that it was in the best interest for business. He claimed their actions were not discriminatory but intended to maintain the value of their properties. The company explained that it was not possible to reduce racial segregation while they were attempting to reduce
5376-502: A role in the election of New York City Mayor John Lindsay , a liberal Republican, in 1965. Whitney supported the changes at the Tribune but they did not help the newspaper's bottom line. A survey of readers of the newspaper in late 1963 found that readers "appreciated the Tribune ' s innovations, (but) the Times still plainly ranked as the prestige paper in the New York field, based mostly on its completeness." Whitney himself
5568-513: A similar stance was approached by the Sun and the World-Telegram , the latter of them also having an ardently liberal past as a Pulitzer newspaper. Financially, the paper continued to stay out of the red, but long-term trouble was on the horizon. After Elisabeth Mills Reid died in 1931—after having given the paper $ 15 million over her lifetime—it was discovered that the elder Reid had treated
5760-567: A symbol of the " American Dream " as it allowed thousands of families to become home owners. 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. If successful, the never-realized Incorporated City of Levittown would have been the third city to incorporate within Nassau County, joining Glen Cove and Long Beach . Previously, locals had proposed incorporating their hamlet as
5952-427: A target of Barry Goldwater partisans in the 1964 presidential campaign . The leadership of the Tribune , while agreeing with Goldwater's approach to national defense, believed he pushed it to an extreme, and strongly opposed Goldwater's voting record on civil rights. After some internal debate, the Tribune endorsed Democrat Lyndon Johnson for the presidency that fall. The newspaper's editorial support also played
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6144-489: A television in the living room, for as little as $ 8,000 each (equal to $ 109,162 today), which, with the G.I. Bill and federal housing subsidies, reduced the up-front cost of a house to many buyers to around $ 400 (equal to $ 5,458 today). The planned 2,000 home rental community was quickly successful, with the New York Herald Tribune reporting that half of the properties had been rented within two days of
6336-546: A town; 35.9% were living in a town but outside a village. Whereas cities and villages can cross county boundaries, each town in New York is completely contained within a single county. New York towns are classified by statute as being a town of the first class or a town of the second class . Additionally, a town of the first class can further be classified as a suburban town upon meeting certain criteria. Originally, towns of different classes possessed different powers. Since 1964, all towns, regardless of classification, have had
6528-481: A uniform statewide Village Law (twelve villages still operate under charters issued by the state legislature prior to a revision of the State Constitution in 1874 that forbade chartering villages). Also, villages are part of a town (or towns; some villages cross town borders), with residents who pay taxes to and receive services from the town. Cities are neither part of nor subordinate to towns except for
6720-510: A village becomes a city, the Legislature requires clear evidence, usually in the form of a locally drafted charter, that the community in question seeks to incorporate as a city. The forms of government cities can have are council–manager, strong mayor–council, weak mayor–council or commission. Forty-six cities, the majority, use the mayor–council form. The City of New York is a special case. The state legislature reorganized government in
6912-494: A village or town but will perform some of the functions of the other form. Villages remain part of the towns in which they are located; village residents pay both town and village taxes, and vote in both town and village elections. Towns can contain several hamlets and communities. If the United States Postal Service (USPS) has a post office in a hamlet it often will use the name of that hamlet, as will
7104-485: A village. As well as a symbol of the American Dream, Levittown would also become a symbol of racial segregation in the United States , due to Clause 25 of the standard lease agreement signed by the first residents of Levittown, who had an option to buy their homes. 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
7296-400: A week as elsewhere. The company also cut out middlemen and purchased many items, including lumber and televisions, directly from manufacturers. The building of every house was reduced to 26 steps, with sub-contractors responsible for each step. 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
7488-429: A year between 1942 and 1945. In 1946, the Herald Tribune ' s Sunday circulation hit an all-time peak of 708,754. The Herald Tribune began a decline shortly after World War II that had several causes. The Reid family was long accustomed to resolve shortfalls at the newspaper with subsidies from their fortune, rather than improved business practices, seeing the paper "as a hereditary possession to be sustained as
7680-423: Is Sherrill, New York , with just 3,071 inhabitants in 2010. The smallest city by area is Mechanicville, New York , which covers 0.91 sq mi (2.4 km ) (of which 0.08 sq mi (0.2 km ) is water). Some places containing the word "city" in their name are not cities. Examples include Johnson City , Garden City , and New City . Several cities, such as Albany, are divided into wards for
7872-663: Is Levittown as defined by the United States Postal Service 's Zip Code 11756. Another definition is the extent of the Levitt & Sons development built from 1947 to 1951. A third is the Census Designated Place (CDP) called Levittown as defined by the United States Census Bureau . The United States Postal Service ZIP code called Levittown, New York, is 11756 and what is most commonly used to mean Levittown, New York. It does not include all
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8064-588: Is Mrs. Reid who often helps that independent mind make itself up". Editorially, the newspaper thrived, winning its first Pulitzer Prize for reporting in 1930 for Leland Stowe 's coverage of the Second Reparations Conference on German reparations for World War I , where the Young Plan was developed. Stanley Walker , who became the newspaper's city editor in 1928, pushed his staff (which briefly included Joseph Mitchell) to write in
8256-408: Is a municipality that provides services to the residents, services that may or may not include garbage collection, management of cemeteries, street and highway maintenance, street lighting, and building codes. Some villages provide their own police and other municipal services. Villages have less autonomy than cities. While cities are not subject to a town's jurisdiction, villages legally remain part of
8448-402: Is commonplace to change boundaries and define new CDPs for each census. The Census Bureau formerly referred to CDPs as "unincorporated places" from 1950 through the 1970 decennial censuses. The term CDP was first used for the 1980 census , and minimum population criteria for CDPs were dropped with the 2000 census . Though the term "hamlet" is not defined under New York law, many people in
8640-456: Is contained within one county. Cities in New York are classified by the U.S. Census Bureau as incorporated places. They provide almost all services to their residents and have the highest degree of home rule and taxing jurisdiction over their residents. The main difference between a city and a village is that cities are organized and governed according to their charters , which can differ widely among cities, while most villages are subject to
8832-558: Is in three towns and two counties. Five towns are coterminous with their single village and have a coterminous town-village form of government. Despite their names, Greenwich Village , the East Village , and Queens Village are not villages, but neighborhoods of the City of New York . A borough is one of the five major administrative divisions of the consolidated City of New York . Boroughs do not currently exist elsewhere in
9024-425: Is then voted upon by the qualified voters living in the proposed village only. Some villages have fewer than 500 residents, having incorporated before the present population requirement or fallen below the old 500-resident threshold after incorporation. A village may also be dissolved, returning all government control to the town level. The process of dissolution can be initiated by the village board itself, or upon
9216-821: Is used as a term to describe overly sanitized suburbs consisting largely of identical housing. Similarly, places have earned names like "Levittown-of-X" or "Levittown-on-the-X" as seen in Long Island's Bayville "Levittown on the Sound" and Fire Island's Dunewood "Levittown on the Bay." Oddly enough, although Levittown is remembered largely for its homogeneity, the majority of houses in Levittown have by now been so thoroughly expanded and modified by their owners that their original architectural form can be somewhat difficult to see; however, with diligent observation, several original examples can still be seen today. Levittown continues to hold
9408-406: Is water. The town of Webb ( Herkimer County ) has the greatest land area, at 451 sq mi (1,170 km ). The smallest town, Green Island ( Albany County ), covers 0.7 sq mi (1.8 km ). The town of Hempstead ( Nassau County ) has about 760,000 people (2010 census), making it more populous than any city in the state except New York City . Red House ( Cattaraugus County ),
9600-640: The New York Journal in 1895 and attempted to ape Pulitzer's methods in a more sensationalistic manner. The challenge of The World and the Journal spurred Bennett to revitalize the paper; the Herald competed keenly with both papers during coverage of the Spanish–American War , providing "the soundest, fairest coverage…(of) any American newspaper", sending circulation over 500,000. The Tribune largely relied on wire copy for its coverage of
9792-635: The New York Journal-American in the spring of 1966; the proposed merger led to another lengthy strike, and on August 15, 1966, Whitney announced the closure of the Herald Tribune . Combined with investments in the World Journal Tribune , Whitney spent $ 39.5 million (equivalent to $ 370,710,006 in 2023 dollars ) in his attempts to keep the newspaper alive. After the New York Herald Tribune closed,
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#17327823396459984-501: The American News Company , the controller of many commuter newsstands, to achieve prominent display. Tribune executives were not blind to the challenge, but the economy drive at the paper undercut efforts to adequately compete. The newspaper fell into the red in 1951. The Herald Tribune ' s losses reached $ 700,000 in 1953, and Robinson resigned late that year. The paper distinguished itself in its coverage of
10176-539: The Caucasian race ." Such discriminatory housing standards were consistent with government policies of the time. The Federal Housing Administration allowed developers to justify segregation within public housing. The FHA offered mortgages only to non-mixed developments, which discouraged developers from creating racially integrated housing. Before the sale of Levittown homes began, the sales agents were aware that no applications from black families would be accepted. As
10368-543: The Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New York . Articles VIII (titled "Local Finances") and IX (titled "Local Government", but commonly referred to as the "Home Rule" article) of the state constitution establish the rights and responsibilities of the municipal governments. The New York State Constitution provides for democratically elected legislative bodies for counties, cities, towns and villages. These legislative bodies are granted
10560-465: The Herald as a means of supporting his lifestyle, did not make serious moves to expand the newspaper's newsgathering operations, and allowed the paper's circulation to fall well below 100,000 by 1912. The Herald suffered a fatal blow in 1907. Bennett, his hatred for the Journal owner unabated, attacked Hearst's campaigns for Congress in 1902, and his run for governor of New York in 1906. The Herald ' s coverage of Hearst's gubernatorial campaign
10752-502: The Herald the most comprehensive source of news among the city's newspapers. Bennett also bankrolled Henry Morton Stanley 's trek through Africa to find David Livingstone , and scooped the competition on the Battle of Little Big Horn . However, Bennett ruled his paper with a heavy hand, telling his executives at one point that he was the "only reader of this paper": "I am the only one to be pleased. If I want it turned upside down, it must be turned upside down. I want one feature article
10944-423: The Herald . The elder Reid refused to sell, saying only that she would buy the Herald . The two sides negotiated through the winter and spring. Munsey approached Ogden Reid with a proposal to swap the profitable evening Sun with the Tribune , which Reid refused. The Reids countered with an offer of $ 5 million for the Herald and the Paris Herald , which Munsey agreed to on March 17, 1924. The move surprised
11136-478: The Herald Tribune to surrender the edge in foreign reporting to its rival. The Herald Tribune strongly supported Wendell Willkie for the Republican nomination in the 1940 presidential election ; Willkie's managers made sure the newspaper's endorsement was placed in each delegate's seat at the 1940 Republican National Convention . The Herald Tribune continued to provide a strong voice for Willkie (who
11328-445: The Journal , led to Bennett's conviction on charges of sending obscene matter through the mails. The publisher was ordered to pay a $ 25,000 fine—Bennett paid it in $ 1,000 bills —and the Herald "suffered a blow in prestige and circulation from which it never really recovered". Whitelaw Reid died in 1912 and was succeeded as publisher by his son, Ogden Mills Reid . The younger Reid, an "affable but lackluster person," began working at
11520-463: The Korean War ; Bigart and Marguerite Higgins , who engaged in a fierce rivalry, shared a Pulitzer Prize with Chicago Daily News correspondent Keyes Beech and three other reporters in 1951. The Tribune ' s cultural criticism was also prominent: John Crosby's radio and television column was syndicated in 29 newspapers by 1949, and Walter Kerr began a successful three-decade career as
11712-516: The Log Cabin , which advocated for the election of William Henry Harrison in the 1840 presidential election , attained a circulation of 80,000 and turned a small profit. With Whigs in power, Greeley saw the opportunity to launch a daily penny newspaper for their constituency. The New-York Tribune launched on April 10, 1841. Unlike the Herald or the Sun , it generally shied about from graphic crime coverage; Greeley saw his newspaper as having
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#173278233964511904-564: The Mexican–American War broke out in 1846, the Herald assigned a reporter to the conflict—the only newspaper in New York to do so—and used the telegraph , then a new technology, to not only beat competitors with news but provide Washington policymakers with the first reports from the conflict. During the American Civil War , Bennett kept at least 24 correspondents in the field, opened a Southern desk and had reporters comb
12096-999: The New York Chiropractic College . Although there is no passenger rail service in Levittown proper, the Long Island Rail Road provides service from the Hicksville and Bethpage stations on its Main Line and from the Wantagh and Bellmore stations on the Babylon Branch . Levittown, along with the remainder of Nassau County, is served by the Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) bus system along Hempstead Turnpike . Republic Airport , in neighboring East Farmingdale , handles general aviation and charter services;
12288-647: The Republican Party , had called for reconciliation of North and South following the war and criticized Radical Reconstruction . Gradually becoming disenchanted with Ulysses S. Grant , Greeley became the surprise nominee of the Liberal Republican faction of the party (and the Democrats) in the 1872 presidential election . The editor had left daily operations of the Tribune to his protege, Whitelaw Reid ; he attempted to resume his job after
12480-534: The Times and The Washington Post , joined by Whitney, entered an agreement to operate the International Herald Tribune , the paper's former Paris publication. By 1967, the paper was owned jointly by Whitney Communications, The Washington Post and The New York Times . The International Herald Tribune , also known as the "IHT", ceased publication in 2013. The New York Herald was founded on May 6, 1835, by James Gordon Bennett ,
12672-534: The Times and poor leadership from the Reid family, left the Herald Tribune far behind its rival. In 1958, the Reids sold the Herald Tribune to John Hay Whitney , a multimillionaire Wall Street investor who was serving as ambassador to the United Kingdom at the time. Under his leadership, the Tribune experimented with new layouts and new approaches to reporting the news and made important contributions to
12864-430: The Times outdistanced its rival in circulation and ad lineage, the Tribune continued to draw a sizeable amount of advertising, due to its wealthy readership. The Times management watched the Tribune ' s changes with "uneasy contempt for their debasement of classic Tribune craftmanship but also with grudging admiration for their catchiness and shrewdness." Times managing editor Turner Catledge began visiting
13056-413: The Times picked up 220,000 readers during the 1950s, its profits declined to $ 348,000 by 1960 due to the costs of an international edition and investments into the newspaper. A western edition of the newspaper, launched in 1961 by new publisher Orvil Dryfoos in an attempt to build the paper's national audience, also proved to be a drain and the Times profits fell to $ 59,802 by the end of 1961. While
13248-467: The Times . Denson's approaches to the front page often required expensive work stoppages to redo the front page, which increased expenses and drew concern from Whitney and Thayer. Denson also had a heavy-handed approach to the newsroom that led some to question his stability, and led him to clash with Thayer. Denson left the Tribune in October 1962 after Thayer attempted to move the nightly lockup of
13440-542: The Tribune ' s new Sunday magazine, New York , edited by Clay Felker . Bellows also prominently featured Jimmy Breslin in the columns of the Tribune, as well as writer Gail Sheehy . Editorially, the newspaper remained in the liberal Republican camp, both strongly anti-communist, pro-business, and supportive of civil rights. In April 1963, the Tribune published the " Letter from Birmingham Jail ", written by Martin Luther King Jr. . The Tribune became
13632-520: The Tribune ' s new audiences; the Sunday edition began to slide again and the paper fell into the red in 1957. Through the decade, the Tribune was the only newspaper in the city to see its share of ad lineage drop, and longtime veterans of the paper, including Bigart, began departing. The Reids, who had by now turned their mortgage into stock, began seeking buyers to infuse the Tribune with cash, turning to John Hay "Jock" Whitney , whose family had
13824-425: The Tribune ' s readership. In her first two years on the job, the Tribune ' s annual advertising revenues jumped from $ 1.7 million to $ 4.3 million, "with circulation responsible for no more than 10 percent of the increase". Reid's efforts helped cut the newspaper's dependence on subsidies from the family fortune and pushed it toward a paying track. Reid also encouraged the development of women's features at
14016-706: The Tribune in 1891. Despite this, the paper remained profitable due to an educated and wealthy readership that attracted advertisers. The Herald was the largest circulation newspaper in New York City until 1884. Joseph Pulitzer , who came from St. Louis and purchased the New York World in 1882, aggressively marketed a mix of crime stories and social reform editorials to a predominantly immigrant audience, and saw his circulation quickly surpass those of more established publishers. Bennett, who had moved permanently to Paris in 1877 after publicly urinating in
14208-506: The Tribune in 1908 as a reporter and won the loyalty of the staff with his good nature and eagerness to learn. Quickly moved through the ranks—he became managing editor in 1912—Reid oversaw the Tribune ' s thorough coverage of the sinking of the Titanic , ushering a revival of the newspaper's fortunes. While the paper continued to lose money, and was saved from bankruptcy only by the generosity of Elisabeth Mills Reid, Ogden's mother.,
14400-771: The Tribune , Greeley combined The New-Yorker and The Log Cabin into a new publication, the Weekly Tribune . The weekly version circulated nationwide, serving as a digest of news melded with agriculture tips. Offering prizes like strawberry plants and gold pens to salesmen, the Weekly Tribune reached a circulation of 50,000 within 10 years, outpacing the Herald ' s weekly edition. The Tribune's ranks included Henry Raymond , who later founded The New York Times , and Charles Dana , who would later edit and partly own The Sun for nearly three decades. Dana served as second-in-command to Greeley, but Greeley abruptly fired him in 1862, after years of personality conflicts between
14592-515: The Tribune , and promoted James Bellows to editor of the newspaper. Bellows kept Denson's format but "eliminated features that lacked substance or sparkle" while promoting new talent, including movie critic Judith Crist and Washington columnists Robert Novak and Rowland Evans . From 1963 until its demise, the Tribune published a weekly magazine supplement titled Book Week ; Susan Sontag published two early essays there. The Tribune also began experimenting with an approach to news that later
14784-595: The Tribune , and these readers stayed with The Times after the war into the Nineteen-fifties and Sixties". Although The New York Times had the most comprehensive coverage of any American newspaper—the newspaper put 55 correspondents in the field, including drama critic Brooks Atkinson —its news budget fell from $ 3.8 million in 1940 to $ 3.7 million in 1944; the paper did not significantly expand its number of newsroom employees between 1937 and 1945 and its ad space, far from declining, actually increased during
14976-432: The U.S. Census Bureau , the CDP has a total area of 6.9 square miles (17.8 km), all land. It does not conform to the U.S. Postal Service boundaries nor to the extent of the development built by Levitt & Sons; it also includes areas built by other developers. Levittown, New York, is an unincorporated area in Nassau County, New York. It can be defined in three overlapping but non-conforming ways. The most common use
15168-439: The United States Census Bureau as "a statistical entity defined for each decennial census according to Census Bureau guidelines, comprising a densely settled concentration of population" that is not part of a city or a village "but is locally identified by a name." CDPs may cross town and county borders. CDPs are defined collaboratively by state and local officials and the Census Bureau. They are defined for each census, and it
15360-670: The Wantagh Fire Department which serves portions of Levittown South of Abbey Lane School. Levittown is patrolled by the eighth precinct of the Nassau County Police Department . People born in Levittown: People at one point living in Levittown : Informational notes Citations Bibliography Hamlet (New York) See also: [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The administrative divisions of New York are
15552-490: The 1954 racial integration decisions, including Brown v. Board of Education , was Levittown racially integrated, and even as late as the 1990 census, only a tiny fraction of the community was non-white. 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
15744-458: The 1960s, Levittown's population was one-third Roman Catholic, one-third Jewish, and one-third Protestant. In the community, the population was spread out, with 18.2% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males. The median income for
15936-772: The 19th century, originally called the Jerusalem School District of the Town of Hempstead. Private schools include the Maria Montessori School, The Progressive School of Long Island, and the South Shore Christian Elementary and Secondary School located in the former Geneva M Gallow Elementary School building. Vocational schools available are the Brittany Beauty School, Hunter Business School, and
16128-499: The Guild's leadership and thrust ITU to the fore. New technology was also a concern for management and labor. Teletypesetting (TTS), introduced in the 1950s, was used by The Wall Street Journal and promised to be far more efficient than the linotype machines still used by the Tribune and most other New York newspapers. TTS required less skill than the complex linotype machines, and publishers wanted to automate to save money. ITU
16320-554: The Levittown in New York was the first. Additionally, Levitt & Sons' designs are featured prominently in the older portion of Buffalo Grove, Illinois ; Vernon Hills, Illinois ; Willingboro Township, New Jersey ; the Belair section of Bowie, Maryland ; and the Greenbriar section of Fairfax, Virginia . The Levitt firm began before World War II, as a builder of custom homes in upper middle-class communities on Long Island. During
16512-419: The Reid family was once again forced to subsidize the newspaper. By 1933, the Herald Tribune turned a profit of $ 300,000, and would stay in the black for the next 20 years, without ever making enough money for significant growth or reinvestment. Through the 1930s Ogden Reid often stayed late at Bleeck's, a popular hangout for Herald Tribune reporters.; by 1945, Tribune historian Richard Kluger wrote, Reid
16704-421: The Reid family, struggled financially for most of its life and rarely generated enough profit for growth or capital improvements; the Reids subsidized the Herald Tribune through the paper's early years. However, it enjoyed prosperity during World War II and by the end of the conflict had pulled close to the Times in ad revenue. A series of disastrous business decisions, combined with aggressive competition from
16896-542: The U.S. Census Bureau as minor civil divisions . Like New Jersey and southern New England , all of New York is incorporated; all residents who do not live in a city or on an Indian reservation live in a town. Towns provide or arrange for the primary functions of local government. While some provide most municipal services for all town residents and selected services for residents of villages, some provide little more than road maintenance. There were 933 towns in New York. As of 2000 , 45.8% of state residents were living in
17088-794: The United States Supreme Court case Board of Education v. Pico . The case determined that students' first amendment rights were violated when the school board removed several books it found objectionable from the high school's library. The Levittown Union Free School District, which also serves North Wantagh and the northern portion of Seaford, has two high schools: Division Avenue and General Douglas MacArthur , one career and technical institute: Gerald R. Claps Career & Technical Center, two middle schools: Wisdom Lane and Jonas Salk, and six elementary schools: Abbey Lane, East Broadway, Gardiners Avenue, Lee Road, Northside, and Summit Lane. The Levittown School District dates back to
17280-1046: The age of 18 and 0.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Levittown is served primarily by two public school districts, the Island Trees Union Free School District with approximately 2,574 students and the Levittown Union Free School District with approximately 7,380 students. A small portion of the northwest corner of the hamlet is served by the East Meadow Union Free School District . The Island Trees Union Free School District serves northeastern Levittown, and portions of Bethpage , Seaford and Plainedge . The district hosts Island Trees High School , Island Trees Memorial Middle School, Michael F. Stokes Elementary School, and J. Fred Sparke Elementary School. In 1982, Island Trees gained national attention from
17472-451: The area in the 1890s in an effort to consolidate. Other cities, villages, and towns were annexed to become the " City of Greater New York ", (an unofficial term, the new city retained the name of New York), a process basically completed in 1898. At the time of consolidation, Queens County was split. Its western towns joined the city, leaving three towns that were never part of the consolidation plan as part of Queens County but not part of
17664-495: The area of the proposed village must have at least 1,500 inhabitants and not be part of an existing city or village. Additionally, the proposed village can be no more than 5 square miles (13 km ) in area unless its boundaries are to be coterminous with a school, fire, improvement or other district, or the entire town. The process of incorporation begins with a petition by either 20% of residents or owners of 50% of assessed real property. If deemed legally sufficient, incorporation
17856-584: The body of New Journalism that developed in the 1960s. The paper steadily revived under Whitney, but a 114-day newspaper strike stopped the Herald Tribune ' s gains and ushered in four years of strife with labor unions, particularly the local chapter of the International Typographical Union . Faced with mounting losses, Whitney attempted to merge the Herald Tribune with the New York World-Telegram and
18048-415: The building of this community, did not permit concrete slabs. Given the urgent need for housing in the region, the town agreed. Levitt & Sons also controversially utilized non- union contractors in the project, a move which provoked picket lines. On the other hand, they paid their workers well and offered multiple incentives that allowed them to earn extra money, so that they often could earn twice as much
18240-469: The business side of the paper, combined with an increasing reputation as a "newspaperman's newspaper", led the Herald Tribune to post a profit of nearly $ 1.5 million in 1929, as circulation climbed over the 300,000 mark. The onset of the Great Depression , however, wiped out the profits. In 1931, the Herald Tribune lost $ 650,000 (equivalent to approximately $ 14,515,610 in 2023 dollars ), and
18432-553: 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. The hardiness zone is borderline between 7a and 7b, meaning that the average annual absolute minimum temperature is approximately 5 °F (−15 °C). As of the 2020 United States census, there were 51,758 people, 16,833 households, and 14,031 families residing in
18624-452: The circulation in 1872 —saw the Tribune's readership jump to about 130,000 by 1924. Reid's wife, Helen Rogers Reid , took charge of the newspaper's advertising department in 1919. Helen Reid, "who believed in the newspaper the way a religious person believes in God", reorganized the faltering department, aggressively pursuing advertisers and selling them on the "wealth, position and power" of
18816-427: The cities of New York and Albany city charters, which were recognized by the first State Constitution in 1777. All other cities have been established by act of the state legislature and have been granted a charter. Cities have been granted the power to revise their charters or adopt new ones. There are no minimum population or area requirements in order to become a city. While there is no defined process for how and when
19008-466: The city but, like other newspaper unions, had taken a backseat to the Newspaper Guild (which had the largest membership among the unions) in contract negotiations. This arrangement began to fray in the 1950s, as the craft unions felt the Guild was too inclined to accept publishers' offers without concern for those who did the manual work of printing. Powers wanted to call a strike to challenge
19200-478: The city of Sherrill , which for some purposes is treated as if it were a village of the town of Vernon . Some cities are completely surrounded by a town, typically of the same name. There are sixty-two cities in the state. As of 2000 , 54.1% of state residents were living in a city; 42.2% were living in New York City; 11.9% were living in one of the other 61 cities. In 1686, the English colonial governor granted
19392-402: The city room of his newspaper to read the early edition of the Tribune and sometimes responded with changes, though he ultimately decided Denson's approach would be unsuccessful. But the financial challenges both papers faced led Dryfoos, Thayer, and previous Times publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger to discuss a possible merger of the Times and the Tribune, a project codenamed "Canada" at
19584-604: The city's newspapers resumed publication on April 1, 1963. The strike added new costs to all newspapers, and increased the Tribune ' s losses to $ 4.2 million while slashing its circulation to 282,000. Dryfoos died of a heart ailment shortly after the strike and was replaced as Times publisher by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger , who ended merger talks with the Tribune because "it just didn't make any long-term sense to me." The paper also lost long-established talent, including Marguerite Higgins, Earl Mazo and Washington bureau chief Robert Donovan. Whitney, however, remained committed to
19776-522: The community being announced on May 7, 1947. 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. With the full implementation of federal government supports for housing, administered under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Levitt firm switched from rental to sale of their houses, offering ownership on
19968-541: 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. 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 . This necessitated negotiating a change in the building code which, prior to
20160-407: The community. The population density was 7,598.1 inhabitants per square mile (2,933.6/km). There were 17,447 dwelling units at an average density of 2,531.9 per square mile (977.6/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 75.7% White , 9.3% Asian , 1.3% Black , less than 0.1% Native American , and less than 0.1% Pacific Islander . Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 16.3% of the population. By
20352-405: The conflict and was consistently ahead of the Herald Tribune ' s. Between 1941 and 1945, advertising space in the Times increased from 42.58 percent of the paper to 49.68 percent, while the Tribune saw its ad space increase from 37.58 percent to 49.32 percent. In 1943 and 1944, more than half the Times ' went to advertising, a percentage the Herald Tribune did not meet until after
20544-407: The conflict. Reid, who helped negotiate the treaty that ended the war had by 1901 become completely disengaged from the Tribune ' s daily operations. The paper was no longer profitable, and the Reids largely viewed the paper as a "private charity case". By 1908, the Tribune was losing $ 2,000 a week. In an article about New York City's daily newspapers that year, The Atlantic Monthly found
20736-610: The consolidated city. Each borough individually elects a borough president and used to elect two at-large city council members, in addition to those elected based on each borough's population. The borough presidents once wielded considerable power as members of the New York City Board of Estimate , but the position is now largely ceremonial and advisory. Boroughs function as counties for certain purposes, but have no county government. The five New York City district attorneys , however, are still elected by county (for example,
20928-499: The country. William Levitt , who assumed control of Levitt & Sons in 1954, is considered the father of modern suburbia in the United States. There have been multiple proposals in the past to incorporate Levittown either as a village or as the third city in Nassau County. The building firm, Levitt & Sons, headed by Abraham Levitt and his two sons, William and Alfred, built four planned communities called "Levittown", in New York , Pennsylvania , New Jersey , and Puerto Rico ;
21120-614: The county also publish maps that conflict both in the number of hamlets and their boundaries. Nevertheless, all land not within a village is administered by the town. Most of the rest of New York's hamlets, however, have less well-defined boundaries, and most towns have areas that are not considered to be a part of any hamlet. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) puts hamlet names on rectangular green signs with white lettering at roadside locations of its choosing. The NYSDOT and local governments also provide community identification signs on some scenic byways to be placed at
21312-595: The county boundaries—each have a Borough Board made up of the Borough President, the borough's district council members, and the chairpersons of the borough's community boards. A mayor serves as the city's chief executive officer. The most populous and largest city in the state is New York City , with a population of over 8.5 million inhabitants and comprising just over 300 sq mi (777.00 km ) of land (468.87 sq mi (1,214.368 km ) total area, which includes water). The least populous city
21504-717: The district attorney for Brooklyn is called the Kings County District Attorney). New York Herald Tribune The New York Herald Tribune was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald . It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed with The New York Times in the daily morning market. The paper won twelve Pulitzer Prizes during its lifetime. A "Republican paper,
21696-414: The election, but was badly hurt by a piece (intended humorously) that said Greeley's defeat would chase political office seekers from the Tribune and allow the staff to "manage our own newspaper without being called aside every hour to help lazy people whom we don't know and…benefit people who don't deserve assistance". The piece was widely (and incorrectly) attributed to Greeley as a sign of bitterness at
21888-712: The executive branch. All town justices were originally part of a town's board. Today, justices belong to a separate judicial branch known as Town Court or Justice Court, part of New York's Justice Court system. A town may contain one or more villages. Many towns have no villages. Five towns are coterminous with their single village and share the same name: Green Island in Albany County ; East Rochester in Monroe County ; and Scarsdale , Harrison , and Mount Kisco in Westchester County . A sixth,
22080-461: The expense of its advertising, while the Herald Tribune chose to run more ads, trading short-term profit for long-term difficulties. In The Kingdom and the Power , Talese's 1969 book about the Times , Talese wrote "the additional space that The Times was able to devote to war coverage instead of advertising was, in the long run, a very profitable decision: The Times lured many readers away from
22272-402: The extreme". His promotions included printing the sports section on green newsprint and a pocket-sized magazine for television listings that initially stopped the Sunday paper's circulation skid, but proved an empty product. The Tribune turned a profit in 1956, but the Times was rapidly outpacing it in news content, circulation, and ad revenue. The promotions largely failed to hold on to
22464-505: The fireplace or piano of his fiancée's parents (the exact location differed in witnesses' memories) spent the Herald ' s still sizable profits on his own lifestyle, and the Herald's circulation stagnated. Bennett respected Pulitzer, and even ran an editorial praising the publisher of The World after health problems forced him to relinquish the editorship of the paper in 1890. However, he despised William Randolph Hearst , who purchased
22656-424: The firm of Levitt & Sons, Inc. founded by Abraham Levitt on August 2, 1929, which built the district as a planned community for returning World War II veterans between 1947 and 1951. Sons William and Alfred served as the company's president and chief architect and planner, respectively. Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout
22848-579: The first American newspaper to use the Bodoni font for headlines. The font gave a "decided elegance" to the Tribune and was soon adopted by magazines and other newspapers, including The Washington Post , The Boston Globe and the Miami Herald . The Tribune developed a reputation for typographical excellence it would maintain for more than four decades. Reid, who inherited a newspaper whose circulation may have fallen to 25,000 daily—no higher than
23040-752: The form of government selected by the residents and approved by the New York State Legislature. Each type of local government is granted specific home rule powers by the New York State Constitution. There are still occasional changes as a village becomes a city, or a village dissolves (stops existing), each of which requires legislative action. New York also has various corporate entities that provide local services and have their own administrative structures (governments), such as school and fire districts. These are not found in all counties. Almost every piece of land in
23232-541: The general provisions of the County Law. Although all counties have a certain latitude to govern themselves, "charter counties" are afforded greater home rule powers. The charter counties are Albany , Broome , Chautauqua , Chemung , Dutchess , Erie , Herkimer , Monroe , Nassau , Oneida , Onondaga , Orange , Putnam , Rensselaer , Rockland , Schenectady , Suffolk , Tompkins , Ulster , and Westchester . Sixteen counties are governed through an assembly with
23424-598: The hospitals to develop lists of casualties and deliver messages from the wounded to their families. The New-York Tribune was founded by Horace Greeley in 1841. Greeley, a native of New Hampshire , had begun publishing a weekly paper called The New-Yorker (unrelated to the magazine of the same name ) in 1834, which won attention for its political reporting and editorials. Joining the Whig Party , Greeley published The Jeffersonian , which helped elect William H. Seward Governor of New York State in 1838, and then
23616-414: The houses built in this area by Levitt & Sons and it does include houses built by other developers. The actual Levitt built development sprawls over three other postal zones, Wantagh NY (11793) and Westbury, NY (11590) in the Town of Hempstead , and Hicksville, NY (11801) in the Town of Oyster Bay . Levittown has a hot-summer humid continental climate ( Dfa ) and average monthly temperatures in
23808-449: The housing shortage. Levitt said "As a Jew, I have no room in my heart for racial prejudice. But the plain fact is that most whites prefer not to live in mixed communities. This attitude may be wrong morally, and someday it may change. I hope it will." The Levitts explained that they would open up applications to blacks after they had sold as many homes to white people as possible. They believed that potential white buyers would not want to buy
24000-517: The journalism community, which had expected Munsey to purchase the Tribune . The Herald management informed its staff of the sale in a brief note posted on a bulletin board; reading it, one reporter remarked "Jonah just swallowed the whale". The merged paper, which published its first edition on March 19, was named the New York Herald New York Tribune until May 31, 1926, when the more familiar New York Herald Tribune
24192-465: The least populous, has 38 permanent residents (2010 census). The use of "town" in a community's name is irrespective of municipal status. Elizabethtown , Germantown and Stephentown are towns. Cooperstown , home of the Baseball Hall of Fame , is a village, Jamestown and Middletown are cities, and Levittown is an unincorporated hamlet. A census-designated place (CDP) is defined by
24384-593: The limits. Based on the ZIP Code, the United States Postal Service (USPS) identifies the correct location for mail delivery. The New York State Gazetteer , published by the New York State Department of Health in 1995, includes a list of hamlets in the state. The criteria used for inclusion in the Gazetteer are not stated. The Adirondack Park Agency also uses the term "hamlet", though as
24576-516: The local fire department or elementary school. Businesses may also use the name of a hamlet as part of their name. The United States Census Bureau will, with consideration from the town, designate a census-designated place (CDP) that may use the name of one or more hamlets, though boundaries may differ from what is used by the ZIP code, local fire department, etc. Towns in New York may be further subdivided into wards, although as of 2017 , only fifteen of
24768-473: The mayor include enforcing laws and supervising employees. A village may also have a full-time village manager who performs these administrative duties instead of the mayor. In 2007, sixty-seven villages had such a manager. Some villages have their own village justice, while others utilize the justice of the town or towns in which they are located. While most villages are subject to a uniform statewide Village Law, twelve villages operate under charters issued by
24960-620: The mid-19th century; the New York City Council is currently elected from special districts, which are allowed to cross borough lines. New York City has a unique system of divisions, some of which possess governmental power, see Divisions unique to New York City . In New York, a town is a municipal corporation, and is the major division of each county (excluding the five boroughs that comprise New York City ), very similar to townships in other states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. Towns in New York are classified by
25152-463: The morning Sun (which he had purchased in 1916) into the Herald and attempted to revive the newspaper through his financial resources, hoping to establish the Herald as the pre-eminent Republican newspaper within the city. To achieve that end, he approached Elisabeth Mills Reid in early 1924 with a proposal to purchase the Tribune —the only other Republican newspaper in New York—and merge it with
25344-454: The most authentic and thorough list of market prices published anywhere; for these alone it commanded attention in financial circles". Bennett, who wrote much of the newspaper himself, "perfected the fresh, pointed prose practiced in the French press at its best". The publisher's coverage of the 1836 murder of Helen Jewett —which, for the first time in the American press, included excerpts from
25536-453: The murder victim's correspondence—made Bennett "the best known, if most notorious…journalist in the country". Bennett put his profits back into his newspaper, establishing a Washington bureau and recruiting correspondents in Europe to provide the "first systematic foreign coverage" in an American newspaper. By 1839, the Herald ' s circulation exceeded that of The London Times . When
25728-411: The names of jumbled up town and city names in exchange for prizes. Reid also gave more prominent play to crime and entertainment stories. Much of the staff, including Whitelaw Reid, felt there was too much focus on circulation at the expense of the paper's editorial standards, but the promotions initially worked, boosting its weekday circulation to over 400,000. Reid's ideas, however, "were prosaic in
25920-415: The nation's largest builder to file for bankruptcy as the housing market boom of the early 21st century continued to crumble. As the first and one of the largest mass-produced suburbs , Levittown quickly became a symbol of postwar suburbia. Although Levittown provided affordable houses in what many residents felt to be a congenial community, critics decried its homogeneity and blandness. Today, "Levittown"
26112-496: The nearest commercial airports are Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma and John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York City proper. NY 24 runs west–east directly through the town, otherwise known as Hempstead Turnpike. This road features locally owned family businesses as well as many prominent chains, and it is the busiest and most congested road in Levittown. Wantagh Parkway marks
26304-401: The new Borough of Queens. (A small portion of the Town of Hempstead was itself annexed, also.) The next year (1899), the three eastern towns of Queens County separated to become Nassau County . The city today consists of the entire area of five counties (named New York, Kings, Queens, Bronx, and Richmond). While these counties have no county government, boroughs—with boundaries coterminous with
26496-467: The new front page "all overblown pictures (and) klaxon headlines" —but the newspaper's circulation jumped in 1961 and those within the Tribune said "the alternative seemed to be the death of the newspaper." The Tribune also launched an ad campaign targeting the Times with the slogan "Who says a good newspaper has to be dull?" The Tribune ' s revival came as the Times was bringing on new leadership and facing financial trouble of its own. While
26688-561: The news side, reducing its foreign and crime coverage. Robinson was dismissive of the circulation lead of the Times , saying in a 1948 memo that 75,000 of its rival's readers were "transients" who only read the wanted ads. The Times also began to push the Tribune hard in suburbs, where the Tribune had previously enjoyed a commanding lead. At the urging of Goldstein, Times editors added features to appeal to commuters, expanded (and in some cases subsidized) home delivery, and paid retail display allowances—"kickbacks, in common parlance"—to
26880-554: The newspaper also hired columnist Walter Lippmann , seen at the time as a liberal, after The World closed its doors in 1931. Unlike other pro-Republican papers, such as Hearst's New York Journal-American or the Chicago Tribune -owned New York Daily News , which held an isolationist and pro-German stance, the Herald Tribune was more supportive of the British and the French as the specter of World War II developed,
27072-599: The newspaper and done creditable work covering the London Blitz , but had not been trained for the duties of his position and was unable to provide forceful leadership for the newspaper. The Tribune also failed to keep pace with the Times in its facilities: While both papers had about the same level of profits between 1947 and 1950, the Times was heavily reinvesting money in its plant and hiring new employees. The Tribune , meanwhile, with Helen Reid's approval, cut $ 1 million from its budgets and fired 25 employees on
27264-448: The newspaper since the 1924 merger initially attempted to keep editorial control of the paper, but Whitney made it clear he would not invest additional money in the Tribune if the Reids remained at the helm. The family yielded, and Helen, Whitie and Brown Reid announced Whitney's takeover of the newspaper on August 28, 1958. The Reids retained a substantial stake in the Tribune until its demise, but Whitney and his advisors controlled
27456-607: The newspaper to managing editor James Bellows . But Denson's approach would continue at the paper. Daily circulation at the Tribune reached an all-time high of 412,000 in November, 1962. The New York newspaper industry came to an abrupt halt on December 8, 1962, when the local of the International Typographical Union , led by Bert Powers, walked off the job, leading to the 114-day 1962–63 New York City newspaper strike . The ITU, known as "Big Six", represented 3,800 printers, as well as workers at 600 printshops and 28 publications in
27648-458: The newspaper's "financial pages … execrable, its news columns readable but utterly commonplace, and its rubber-stamping of Republican policies (making) it the last sheet in town operated as a servant of party machinery". The Herald also saw its reputation for comprehensiveness challenged by the Times , purchased by Chattanooga Times publisher Adolph Ochs in 1896, a few weeks before the paper would have likely closed its doors. Ochs, turning
27840-426: The newspaper's viability. The loan came with the option to take controlling interest of the newspaper if he made a second loan of $ 1.3 million. Brown Reid expected the $ 1.2 million to cover a deficit that would last through the end of 1958, but by that year the newspaper's loss was projected at $ 3 million, and Whitney and his advisors decided to exercise their option. The Reids, claiming to have put $ 20 million into
28032-430: The newspaper, the hiring of female writers, and helped establish a "home institute" that tested recipes and household products. The Herald ' s decline continued in the new decade. With the outbreak of World War I, Bennett devoted most of his attention to the Paris Herald , doing his first newspaper reporting at the age of 73 and keeping the publication alive despite wartime censorship. The New York paper, however,
28224-419: The once-Republican Times into an independent Democratic newspaper, refocused the newspaper's coverage on commerce, quickly developing a reputation as the "businessman's bible". When the Times began turning a profit in 1899, Ochs began reinvesting the profits make into the newspaper toward news coverage, quickly giving the Times the reputation as the most complete newspaper in the city. Bennett, who viewed
28416-416: The only body that can create governmental units is the state. All of them have their own governments, sometimes with no paid employees, that provide local services. Centers of population that are not incorporated and have no government or local services are designated hamlets . Whether a municipality is defined as a borough, city, town, or village is determined not by population or land area, but rather on
28608-472: The outcome; Reid refused to print Greeley's furious disclaimer of the story, and by the end of the month, Greeley had died. Both newspapers went into gradual decline under their new proprietors. James Gordon Bennett Jr.—"a swaggering, precociously dissolute lout who rarely stifled an impulse" —had a mercurial reign. He launched the New York Telegram , an evening paper, in the late 1860s and kept
28800-583: The overall percentage of advertising for the paper was higher than it was in 1947, the Times was still higher: 58 percent of the average space in The New York Times in 1947 was devoted to advertising, versus a little over 50 percent of the Tribune . The Times would not raise its price until 1950. Ogden Reid died early in 1947, making Helen Reid leader of the Tribune in name as well as in fact. Reid chose her son, Whitelaw Reid , known as "Whitie", as editor. The younger Reid had written for
28992-450: The paper's writers included Dorothy Thompson , Red Smith , Roger Kahn , Richard Watts Jr. , Homer Bigart , Walter Kerr , Walter Lippmann , St. Clair McKelway , Judith Crist , Dick Schaap , Tom Wolfe , John Steinbeck , and Jimmy Breslin . Editorially, the newspaper was the voice for eastern Republicans, later referred to as Rockefeller Republicans , and espoused a pro-business, internationalist viewpoint. The paper, first owned by
29184-519: The paper. Whitney initially left management of the newspaper to Walter Thayer, a longtime advisor. Thayer did not believe the Tribune was a financial investment—"it was a matter of 'let's set it up so that (Whitney) can do it if this is what he wants" —but moved to build a "hen house" of media properties to protect Whitney's investment and provide money for the Tribune . Over the next two years, Whitney's firm acquired Parade , five television stations and four radio stations. The properties, merged into
29376-432: The power and fiscal capacity to provide an array of local government services. Such services generally include law enforcement and public safety, social and health services (such as Medicaid ), and education (special needs and community colleges). Every county outside of New York City has a county seat , which is the location of county government. Nineteen counties operate under county charters, while 38 operate under
29568-480: The power of a board of supervisors , composed of the supervisors of its constituent towns and cities. In most of these counties, each supervisor's vote is weighted in accordance with the town's population in order to abide by the U.S. Supreme Court mandate of " one person, one vote ". Other counties have legislative districts of equal population, which may cross municipal borders; these counties may also have an elected County Executive. Most counties in New York do not use
29760-493: The power to enact local laws as needed in order to provide services to their citizens and fulfill their various obligations. The county is the primary administrative division of New York. There are sixty-two counties in the state. Five of the counties are boroughs of the City of New York and do not have functioning county governments. While originally created as subdivisions of the state meant to carry out state functions, counties are now considered municipal corporations with
29952-416: The profits to make needed upgrades to the newspaper's pressroom. The investment squeezed the paper's resources, and Robinson decided to make up the difference at the end of the year by raising the Tribune ' s price from three cents to a nickel , expecting the Times , which also needed to upgrade its facilities, to do the same. However, the Times , concerned by the Tribune ' s performance during
30144-527: The purposes of municipal representation. Each ward elects one member to the city's legislative body, and the wards are redistricted roughly every ten years. These divisions can go by other names by city; in Buffalo they are known as districts . These divisions can either be numbered or named. New York City was divided into wards at various times in its history between 1683 and 1938, although they were gradually replaced by Assembly and Senate districts starting in
30336-749: The roadside boundaries of hamlets, as decided by the sign provider. Many towns have special zoning or planning districts and planning strategies for their hamlets, and many places welcome signs at the gateways to the hamlets. Some hamlets are former villages that have dissolved their incorporation ( Old Forge in Herkimer County ; Rosendale , in Ulster County ; and Andes in Delaware County , for example). Notwithstanding hamlets are not cities or towns, many of them are called out in formal addresses for those residents residing within
30528-439: The same approach to the Tribune . Denson "swept away the old front-page architecture, essentially vertical in structure" and laid out stories horizontally, with unorthodox and sometimes cryptic headlines; large photos and information boxes. The "Densonized" front page sparked a mixed reaction from media professionals and within the newspaper— Tribune copy editor John Price called it "silly but expert silliness" and Time called
30720-450: The same legal powers as were once available only to suburban towns. Even so, towns of different classifications continue to have organizational differences and certain conditions that must be met before a town's classification changes. The town board serves as the legislative branch. The board is composed of one elected town supervisor (or chief executive officer in suburban towns) and a specific number of elected council persons; towns of
30912-575: The second class generally have two but may have four council persons, whereas towns of the first class generally have four but can have two or six. The supervisor presides over the board, voting on all matters but not possessing veto or tie-breaking power. Certain towns operate under a town manager form of government, creating an executive branch in the town government, as permitted by legislation enacted in 1976. As such, some supervisors have additional authority or executive powers, whereas some towns have town managers or chief executive officers who serve as
31104-456: The state has more than 3,400 active local governments and more than 4,200 taxing jurisdictions. Counties and incorporated municipal governments (also known as "general purpose units of local government"; i.e., cities, towns and villages) in the State of New York have been granted broad home rule powers enabling them to provide services to their residents and to regulate the quality of life within their jurisdictions. They do so while adhering to
31296-404: The state is part of a city or town, which is part of one county. The exceptions are the city of Geneva ; New York City ; and ten Indian reservations . As of 2009 , New York has 62 counties (including New York City's five boroughs ), which are subdivided into 933 towns and 61 cities (including Geneva in both Ontario and Seneca counties, but excluding New York City and Sherrill ). In total,
31488-641: The state legislature prior to 1874. Before a revision to the State Constitution in that year, villages were formed by the state legislature through granting of charters. Many villages reincorporated, dumping their charters in favor of the Village Law. The villages that retain their charters are Alexander , Carthage , Catskill , Cooperstown , Deposit , Fredonia , Ilion , Mohawk , Ossining , Owego , Port Chester , and Waterford . These villages must still comply with those aspects of Village Law that are not inconsistent with their charters. To be incorporated,
31680-580: The state use the term hamlet to refer to a community within a town that is not incorporated as a village but is identified by a name, i.e. an unincorporated community . A hamlet often has a name corresponding to the name of a local school district , post office , or fire district. Because a hamlet has no government of its own, it depends upon the town or towns that contain it for municipal services and government. Because they do not have governments, hamlets have no clear boundaries . Suffolk County publishes maps that give hamlet boundaries, but towns within
31872-423: The state's 932 towns used this system. In towns operating under the ward system, citizens vote for councilmen who represent a specific area (ward) of the town, as opposed to the at-large councilmen elected in the majority of the state's towns. Towns vary in size and population. The largest town by area is Brookhaven ( Suffolk County ), which covers 531.5 sq mi (1,377 km ), but more than half of that
32064-478: The state. Each of the five boroughs of the city is coextensive with a county of the state of New York. Under New York State's General Municipal Law , a borough results when the towns, villages and cities in a county merge with the county itself. This occurred in 1898 when New York City merged with surrounding counties, cities and towns to form its present configuration. The five boroughs are: The boroughs were originally intended to retain some local governance in
32256-482: The stories, Bigart was highly valued by his peers and the military, and won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize. By the end of the conflict, the Herald Tribune had enjoyed some of its best financial years in its history. While the newspaper had just 63 percent of its rival's daily circulation (and 70 percent of the Sunday circulation of The Times ), its high-income readership gave the paper nearly 85 percent of The New York Times ' overall ad revenue, and had made $ 2 million
32448-508: The submission of a proper petition to the board. The village board must produce a "dissolution plan" that settles specific matters, such as the village's debts, its employees and property, and the financial impact dissolution would have on village and non-village town residents. This plan is voted upon by village voters only. About 15% of villages cross other municipal boundaries. More than 70 villages are located in two or more towns. Seven villages are in two counties. The village of Saranac Lake
32640-436: The subsidies as loans, not capital investments. The notes on the paper were willed to Ogden Reid and his sister, Lady Jean Templeton Reid Ward. The notes amounted to a mortgage on the Herald Tribune , which prevented the newspaper from acquiring bank loans or securing public financing. Financial advisors at the newspaper advised the Reids to convert the notes into equity , which the family resisted. This decision would play
32832-405: The term "Board of Supervisors." 34 counties have a County Legislature, six counties have a Board of Legislators, and one county has a Board of Representatives. The five counties, or boroughs, of New York City are governed by a 51-member City Council. In non-charter counties, the legislative body exercises executive power as well. Although the legislature can delegate certain functions and duties to
33024-503: The town of Palm Tree in Orange County was incorporated in 2019 and is coterminous with the village of Kiryas Joel , having acquired land from the town of Monroe . When such an entity is formed, officials from either unit of government may serve in both village and town governments simultaneously. A referendum is held to decide whether residents prefer a village-style or town-style government, which will then function primarily as
33216-419: The town or towns in which they are located. Village residents pay both town and village taxes, and vote in town and village elections. Those services not provided by the village are provided by the town or towns containing the village. As of the 2000 census, 9.9% of the state's population was living in one of the 556 villages in New York. The legislature of a village is the board of trustees, composed of
33408-590: The trial itself. Bennett founded the New York Globe in 1832 to promote the re-election of Andrew Jackson to the White House , but the paper quickly folded after the election. After a few years of journalistic piecework, he founded the Herald in 1835 as a penny newspaper , similar in some respects to Benjamin Day's Sun but with a strong emphasis on crime and financial coverage; the Herald "carried
33600-808: The two men. Raymond, who felt he was "overused and underpaid" as a reporter on the Tribune staff, later served in the New York State Assembly and, with the backing of bankers in Albany, founded the Times in 1851, which quickly became a rival for the Whig readership that Greeley cultivated. After the Civil War , Bennett turned over daily operations of the Herald to his son James Gordon Bennett Jr. , and lived in seclusion until his death in 1872. That year, Greeley, who had been an early supporter of
33792-580: The various units of government that provide local services in the American state of New York . The state is divided into boroughs , counties, cities, towns, and villages. (The only boroughs, the five boroughs of New York City, have the same boundaries as their respective counties.) They are municipal corporations , chartered (created) by the New York State Legislature , as under the New York State Constitution
33984-534: The war, however, the home building industry languished under a general embargo on private use of scarce raw materials. 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
34176-478: The war, refused to go along. "We didn't want to give them any quarter," Times circulation manager Nathan Goldstein said. "Our numbers were on the rise, and we didn't want to do anything to jeopardize them. 'No free rides for the competition' was the way we looked at it." The move proved disastrous: In 1947, the Tribune ' s daily circulation fell nine percent, from 348,626 to 319,867. Its Sunday circulation fell four percent, from 708,754 to 680,691. Although
34368-478: The war. However, because the Tribune was generally a smaller paper than the Times and saw its ad space jump more, "the proportionate increase in the Tribune seemed greater than it was in absolute terms. The evidence that this disproportionate increase in the Tribune ' s advertising content left its readers feeling deprived of war news coverage and sent them in droves to the Times is, at best, highly ambiguous." The Herald Tribune always had at least
34560-564: The western border of Levittown, with an exit onto Loring Road, a north–south local roadway. Gardiners Avenue also runs north-south through the center of the town, which becomes Jerusalem Avenue north of NY 24. Wantagh Avenue is the main north-south road on the eastern edge of Levittown. North Jerusalem Road (Old Jerusalem Road east of Gardiners Avenue) is a major west–east road that marks the southern border of Levittown to Wantagh. The Wantagh-Levittown Volunteer Ambulance Corps provides paramedic level of care. Founded in 1956 by Homer K. Moore as
34752-401: The younger Reid encouraged light touches at the previously somber Tribune , creating an environment where "the windows were opened and the suffocating solemnity of the place was aired out". Under Reid's tenure the Tribune lobbied for legal protection for journalists culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court case Burdick v. United States . In 1917, the Tribune redesigned its layout and became
34944-520: Was able to purchase options on large swaths of onion and potato fields in undeveloped sections of Long Island. 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. With his brother, Alfred, who was an architect, he designed a small one-floor house with an unfinished "expansion attic" that could be rapidly constructed and as rapidly rented to returning GIs and their young families. Levitt & Sons built
35136-495: Was having an affair with literary editor Irita Van Doren ) through the election. Dorothy Thompson , then a columnist at the paper, openly supported Franklin Roosevelt 's re-election and was eventually forced to resign. Historians of The New York Times —including Gay Talese , Susan Tifft and Alex S. Jones—have argued that the Times , faced with newsprint rationing during World War II, decided to increase its news coverage at
35328-573: Was high, requiring that the purchasing process be streamlined as the assembly process had been, reaching the point that a buyer could walk through the process of selecting a house through contracting for its purchase in three minutes. This ranch model was altered in 1950 to include a carport and a built-in television. In 1951, a partially finished attic was added to the design. Levittown proved successful. By 1951, it and surrounding regions included 17,447 homes constructed by Levitt & Sons. On November 9, 2007, Levitt & Sons of Fort Lauderdale became
35520-409: Was in freefall, and posted a loss in 1917. The next year, Bennett died, having taken some $ 30 million out of the lifetime profits of the Herald . Two years later, the Herald newspapers were sold to Frank Munsey for $ 3 million. Munsey had won the enmity of many journalists with his buying, selling and consolidation of newspapers, and the Herald became part of Munsey's moves. The publisher merged
35712-435: Was more interested in cutting costs than producing journalism. "It is no longer the desire even to attempt to run parallel with The New York Times in special dispatches from Europe," Hills wrote in a memo to the Herald Tribune ' s foreign bureaus in late 1937. "Crisp cables of human interest or humorous type cables are greatly appreciated. Big beats in Europe these days are not very likely." The policy effectively led
35904-447: Was not necessarily opposed to TTS—it trained its members on the new equipment —but wanted to control the rate at which automation occurred; assurances that TTS operators would be paid at the same rates as linotype workers; that at least a portion of the savings from publishers would go toward union pension plans (to allow funding to continue as the workforce and union membership declined) and guarantees that no printer would lose their job as
36096-442: Was particularly vicious, as Bennett ordered his reporters to publish every negative item about Hearst's past that they could. Hearst, seeking revenge, sent a reporter to investigate the Herald ' s personal columns, which ran in the front of the paper and, in veiled language, advertised the service of prostitutes; reporters referred to it as "The Whores' Daily Guide and Handy Compendium." The resulting investigation, published in
36288-417: Was popular with the staff—Breslin called him "the only millionaire I ever rooted for" —and once burst out of his office wondering why the Tribune failed to sell more copies when "there's compelling reading on every page." But a second strike in 1965—which led the Tribune to leave the publishers' association in a desperate attempt to survive—pushed the Tribune's losses to $ 5 million and led Thayer to conclude
36480-519: Was referred to as the New Journalism . National editor Dick Wald wrote in one memo "there is no mold for a newspaper story," and Bellows encouraged his reporters to work "in whatever style made them comfortable." Tom Wolfe , who joined the paper after working at The Washington Post , wrote lengthy features about city life; asking an editor how long his pieces should be, he received the reply "until it gets boring." Bellows soon moved Wolfe to
36672-411: Was struggling with alcoholism . The staff considered the Herald Tribune ' s owner "kindly and likable, if deficient in intelligence and enterprise". Helen Reid increasingly took on the major leadership responsibilities at the newspaper—a fact Time noted in a 1934 cover story. Reid, angered, called her husband "the most independent-minded man I have ever met", to which Time replied that "it
36864-410: Was substituted. Apart from the Herald ' s radio magazine, weather listings and other features, "the merged paper was, with very few changes, the Tribune intact". Only 25 Herald reporters were hired after the merger; 600 people lost their jobs. Within a year, the new paper's circulation reached 275,000. The newly merged paper was not immediately profitable, but Helen Reid's reorganization of
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