The story of Bill Levitt's Levittowns (h/t American Digest).
My family's first home was military housing. Our second, mortgage via the Vets. Our third, not. The farms were family heirlooms. Freebies, not earned.
Very much related: Transcending the Single Family Home It begins:
The single family home was an artifact of the blue model world. Before World War II, it was common for many generations of a family to live together. Before social security, grandparents didn’t have the money for independent living; children and grandchildren were a safety net. Often, extended families would live together, sharing chores, cooperating with child care and other activities.
But postwar suburbia changed all that: each nuclear family was supposed to be an island unto itself, and zoning laws in many American cities and towns changed to make illegal the kind of multi-family living that had once been the norm.
Where I grew up as a young lad in suburbia, a little old lady ran a candy shop out of her parlor. A gunsmith had his shop in his garage. At the farm, of course, everybody ran their business out of their places: farms, farm stands, blacksmiths, tractor repairs, etc. Farms were often multi-generational. And yes, in town, families lived over the store. It worked.
In cities, mixed zoning is a wonderful thing. Commercial on the first and/or second floors and residential above.
