Stan and Anna Mae Fretz have lived in Levittown since buying one of its original homes in 1953, according to JD Mullane at the Bucks County Courier Times.
They arrived as part of the first wave of families who helped shape what builder William Levitt envisioned as a new kind of American suburb, one built on affordability and opportunity.
Like many young couples of the era, they were starting from scratch. Stan had just returned from the Korean War. They had little money and a young child. Then came an offer that changed everything.
“For a $100 down, you got a house. There was nothing like it.”
That deal defined Levittown‘s early promise. The Fretzes moved into a one-story Levittowner on an unpaved street, surrounded by open land that would soon fill with neighbors doing exactly what they were doing: building a life.
And build they did. They raised their children, ran a business, and put down roots so deep they never left.
“When I think back to those early years, we really had a beautiful relationship with our neighbors all around.”
It was a different kind of neighborhood back then. No fences between yards, families sharing space and time as a brand-new community found its footing.
More than 70 years later, Stan and Anna Mae are still there, in the same house where it all began.
Their story is a quiet reminder of what Levittown was always meant to be.
For the full story of Stan and Anna Mae Fretz’s remarkable seven-decade journey in Levittown, head over to the Bucks County Courier Times.
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Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on BUCKSCO Today in May 2026.
