A glimpse of what Levittown was like in the very beginning; no stores, and no schools, just the sound of thousands of hammers

Click on photo to enlarge

1951-52 Mr. Thaler's 4th grade class Northside School class

Students were identified by Gary DeCastillia, a 1960 Division Avenue High School graduate

(rows go up and down, not side to side):

First Row - Dammie Zimmekma, Carolann Ritzer, Bonnie Lee

Second Row - Gary DeCastillia, Midge Rist, Diane White, Patricia Walsh, Louise Nicolosi

Third Row - Georgeann Post, Diane Brown, Pamela Gaines, Joyce Coleman, Nancy Stitt

Fourth Row - Dorothy Kuppler, Dave Cahn, Tommy Archibald, Damon Solomon

Standing - David Spencer, William Brown, Gregory Snaric, Mr. Thaler

Those who graduated in 1960 from Division were: Gary DeCastillia, Louise Nicolosi, Diane Brown (deceased), Dorothy Kuppler, Damon Solomon and Diane White.

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By DAVE CAHN

My family moved to Levittown on the first day it opened, October 1, 1947, which at that time was called Island Trees. The next month, my parents founded the Island Trees Eagle (in which they suggested the community be renamed "Levittown"), later the Levittown Eagle.

We moved to Wantagh at the end of April 1952, but I finished the year at Northside.

I posted the 1951-52 fourth-grade class picture to the Levittown Memorial High School Facebook group, in case some of the kids went there, rather than to DAHS. In my post there, I said, "When I moved to 36 Pinetree Lane, there were only a few blocks of houses built by Levitt and Sons (the tree section), no stores, and no schools, just the sound of thousands of hammers building the nearby flower section.

My parents sent me to a private kindergarten for 1947-48. The next year, I went to the newly erected Wisdom Lane quonset hut with Molly Alter as my first-grade teacher.

Nearly every year thereafter, sometimes twice a year, I moved to each new school (other than Abbey Lane) as it was built: Gardiners Avenue, Division Avenue (Elementary School), Summit Lane, and Northside."

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Dave Cahn lives in Upper Marlboro, Maryland