Title: City and Suburb | National Museum of American History
Headings: 
The Sprawling Metropolis
The Automobile Shapes the Suburbs
Aerial view of Park Forest, Illinois, 1952
Suburban Family Life
Commuters returning from Chicago on the Illinois Central, Park Forest, Illinois, 1954
Building the backyard barbecue, Park Forest, Illinois, mid-1950s. Courtesy of Park Forest Public Library
Diversity in the Suburbs
Letter to Park Forest Village employees, 1959
Yvonne and Leonard Robinson, about 2000
The Robinsons' Park Forest Home, about 1994
Suburban Critics
Moving In
“New, individual homes for sale,” advertisement, 1951
Ford Mustang Pedal Car, 1960s
View object  record
Schwinn Panther Bicycle, 1953
View object  record
The Automobile and the City
Ford Country Squire station wagon, 1955
View object  record

Content: Commuters returning from Chicago on the Illinois Central, Park Forest, Illinois, 1954
Photograph by Bob Sandberg, courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Building the backyard barbecue, Park Forest, Illinois, mid-1950s. Courtesy of Park Forest Public Library
If Dad’s home, this must be a weekend. The men were away from the community all week. They made up for lost time on weekends, doing home improvements, playing with the kids, and participating in community groups. Kids in the tot lot, Park Forest, Illinois, 1954. Photograph by Bob Sandberg, courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Unlike older cities, towns, and suburbs, with their mix of people of all ages, the new postwar suburbs were inhabited primarily by young families. There were few older people or even older children in the early years. Coffee klatch, Park Forest, Illinois, 1954. Photograph by Bob Sandberg, courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
In the 1950s, one-third of Park Forest wives were college-educated, but few worked outside the home or even left the neighborhood during the day. Many women met over coffee, attended self-improvement classes, and became involved in local community  issues.