AA-2026-67A0E4
On the image
A subdivision is being built into the middle distance, and the photographer has climbed to high ground to prove it. On the left, white houses cluster in neat rows across the field—the beginning of the suburban expansion that would remake American land use in the 1950s, the theory being that if you build enough identical houses close enough together, people will buy them and everyone will prosper. On the right, the old land remains: green, mixed, purposeful, the kind of farming operation that had stood for generations. Power lines cut across the frame, already carrying electricity to developments that didn't exist five years prior. The photographer is documenting the moment of transition, though probably without meaning to—they wanted a snapshot of new growth, a sign of American vigor, and instead caught the exact instant when one way of organizing the world was being buried under another. The sky is transitional too.
Visually related — by likeness
Rural landscape with suburban sprawl, 1950s America. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-67A0E4. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/rural-landscape-with-suburban-sprawl-1950s-america.
@misc{aaAA202667A0E4,
title = {Rural landscape with suburban sprawl, 1950s America},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-67A0E4},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/rural-landscape-with-suburban-sprawl-1950s-america}
}TY - ART TI - Rural landscape with suburban sprawl, 1950s America PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-67A0E4 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/rural-landscape-with-suburban-sprawl-1950s-america ER -
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