At the end of World War II, the United States Congress passed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, called the G.I. Bill of Rights. The G.I. Bill provided $13 billion to returning military personnel for medical treatment, education and vocational training, and other needs. The bill offered home buyers government-guarantied, low-interest loans on new homes, with no down payment. New suburban residential developments sprang up throughout western Washington and across the United States.

This photo, taken in May 1946, shows new homes under construction in Bellevue, Washington. The 1940 completion of the first Lake Washington floating bridge had also boosted Bellevue's population.

Title from original inventory: Houses under construction, Bellevue
Written on original envelope: Bellevue, Wn-general (new construction)
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): May 30, 1946