Outlying Willingboro

Based on the original blueprint for an American suburb over 60 years ago, Willingboro remains an idyllic community with sizable homes, tree-lined avenues, playful parks and lush green space.

Amid the post-World War II housing boom, pioneering American real estate developer William Levitt purchased nearly all the available land in Willingboro Township. His company then replicated what it piloted in New York, rapidly forming a community of mass-produced homes arranged on curvilinear, sidewalk-lined streets. The town’s tiny population leaped from there, bringing in thousands of new residents. The community briefly adopted the Levittown name before reverting to its historic name a few years later in the 1960s. Much has changed since then. Black families were initially barred from buying homes here, but a landmark New Jersey Supreme Court case found the practice unconstitutional after a prospective buyer filed suit against Levitt. Today, Willingboro is a diverse, multicultural town where people live comfortably about 20 miles from Center City Philadelphia. Averaging about 2,000 square feet, Willingboro’s midcentury ranch-style homes and Cape Cods typically sell for upward of $200,000. Sometimes, you can find a smaller town house or a fixer-upper for under $150,000. At the top of the market, Colonial-inspired homes as large as 3,000 square feet sell for around $400,000 to $500,000.

Families in the community can enroll their children at the PreK-K Garfield East Early Childhood Development Center or J. Cresswell Stuart Early Childhood Development Center. From there, students will generally go on and learn to read and write at Twin Hills Elementary School or one of the other two elementary schools in the district. Before reaching middle and high school, students in Willingboro attend James A. Cotton Intermediate School for 5th and 6th grade. From there, they go to Willingboro Memorial Middle School and Willingboro High School. Niche gives each school in the district a C-minus. The Making Visions Possible program at the high school helps students navigate adolescent challenges by providing academic and social support that guides them to graduation.

Municipal signs around the community tout Willingboro as “a naturally better place to live,” as the township features over 500 acres of parks and green space. Millcreek Park draws numerous visitors to its playgrounds, sports fields and fishing spots along the wide Rancocas Creek. The park also hosts several events throughout the year, including the annual Willingboro Jazz Festival. Going strong for the past 40 years, the festival highlights local artists and touring acts that resonate across generations and cultures, with past iterations featuring performances by singer CeCe Peniston and rapper Big Daddy Kane. In addition to Millcreek and a few other neighborhood playgrounds and parks throughout the town, folks exercise, play sports and learn new skills at the Kennedy Center, a newly built 177,000-square-foot recreational center with three gymnasiums, a computer lab, a 500-seat auditorium and an outdoor track and football field.

Next to the Virtua Willingboro Hospital and a large Amazon warehouse along Burlington Pike, one of the main highways that passes the community, the Willingboro Town Center includes restaurants, banks, business offices, an Acme supermarket and the Willingboro Public Library. Many folks drive this way to shop or dine at fast-food franchises and a few local eateries like the Golden Dawn Diner or 45th Street Pub. On the other end of the community, you’ll find smaller shopping centers and independent businesses along Beverly Road. Near the entrance of Millcreek Park, the Produce Junction in the Country Club Plaza shopping center offers wholesale prices on cases of vegetables and flowers along with daily specials on fruits and leafy greens.

Written By

Christopher Suarez

Photography Contributed By

Chris Pirone

Video By

Michael Voyack