Looking at the real-estate situation after World War II, a group of Chicago businessmen saw a huge population of young veterans, but little available housing. Why not, the group figured, ... See full synopsis
Chronicle of an American Suburb (2002) Online
- Original Title :
- Chronicle of an American Suburb
- Genre :
- Movie
- Year :
- 2002
- Directror :
- H. James Gilmore
- Writer :
- H. James Gilmore
- Type :
- Movie
- Time :
- 57min
- Rating :
- 6.3/10
Looking at the real-estate situation after World War II, a group of Chicago businessmen saw a huge population of young veterans, but little available housing. Why not, the group figured, build an entire new community for these people? So they bought up 2,400 acres in the cornfields thirty miles south of Chicago and designed clusters of rental apartments around a central shopping mall, with ranch and split-level houses for sale on the periphery. They called their new town "Park Forest." It was an adventure in capitalism that marketed affordable homes and the promise of happiness.Park Forest opened in 1948 and was officially incorporated in 1949. Unlike the Levittowns, Park Forest was planned and built to be a complete, self-contained village. It would provide not only housing, but also utilities, regional shopping and a citizen-based, non-partisan politic-- all designed to create a new way of living. The idea seemed to work. In the 1950s Park Forest became famous through William H. ...