How did people get through the Texas heat before there was A/C? (Dallas: transplants, homes)

[stan4]

You know, there are hotter places in the world than Texas, and they STILL don't use a/c.

[Bideshi]

Houses used to be designed with lots of windows to open for cross flow circulation, screen doors, etc. You didn't worry about thieves climbing through open windows in those days.

[malamute]

You can live well enough without air conditioning if the house is made right and you leave windows open. You don't have large windows facing the SW if you make a house right and you use trees to provide shade. And you don't have concrete everywhere, dirt and grass and trees absorb heat but concrete reflects the heat.

It would be miserable in many apartments where there are only windows on one side where you couldn't get a breeze coming in.

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by DitsyD

Besides being acclimated to the heat, most people were not overweight and got plenty of exercise going about their everyday life. Made it easier to work in the heat.

For the most part, people drank more water and less caffeinated drinks, keeping them better hydrated.

Clothing was made from natural fibers, which seem to be more comfortable in the heat than man made fibers.

You are so right about this! Good points!

Originally Posted by elan

I'll add that we didn't start school until after Labor Day.

You're right, I had forgotten this.

[joqua]

Originally Posted by unseengundam

...could Texas actually have had this huge population growth if some form of A/C didn't exist?

The fact that no one had air conditioning as we know it today would not have kept people from relocating. If I recall my history correctly it was called "westward expansion" in the territorial days.

The entire southern tier of states is not only hot - but miserably humid in summer. Shotgun houses were the first answer to cross ventilating a house - central open passage with rooms on either side. With the coming of electricity and motors, fans became the answer. In the humid south, whole-house attic fans did a decent job of cooling the house off - with even more humidity drawn in so that mold and mildew were made worse. My boyhood in west Texas saw only electric fans until swamp coolers, effective in the dry air of the southwest, became more the norm.

Yes - thank goodness we all live in the age of refrigerated air. I can recall when movie theaters were the first to have it, making attending them even more important than just for the entertainment. People went there to enjoy a cool respite.

[debzkidz]

It also helped that most houses before a/c were not built on concrete slabs. Houses had crawl spaces underneath with vents along the ground, so air could flow under the house, helping to keep it cooler. My grandmothers house in Dallas was like this. She had an attic fan, to pull the hot air out and a couple of window units. As a kid, I thought she was rich because she had those window units! It had awnings over the windows, big tress all around, and the driveway next to the house was only 2 concrete strips wide enough for the tires to go over. The rest of it was just grass. It was always nice and cool in her house. Much cooler than our un-airconditioned tract house in the suburbs.

[goodtymes70]

History of Texas....Santa Ana the former great leader of Mexico wanted to settle Texas with Mexicans to use as a Buffer Zone between Mexico and the United States. Santa Ana created incentives for Mexicans to move to Texas, most Mexicans that moved to Texas stayed only a short time...cold winters very hot summers made living in Texas difficult. All they could do was take siestas in the afternoon hours and do their work early and later and have recreation time at night.

[PullMyFinger]

Interesting thread. I grew up in Minnesota so saw very few of these very hot days. But we had no AC when I was a kid. I remember our house had extra long overhangs on the roof with a 4 sided design so most of the upstairs windows were shaded all day. We used to stay outside most of the day as it was a farm. My Dad installed a whole house fan in the upstairs and would turn that on at night when we went to bed. It was installed in the hallway and vented directly through the roof. I remember it moved a lot of air, the curtains in the windows would suck in a good 6 inches from the air coming in. A lot of heat was exhausted out of the house that way because USUALLY Minnesota nights cool off, but there was some awful ones I remember too.

My understanding of the south is that the population has exploded since the advent of AC. I would think life in Vegas would be almost impossible without AC.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by goodtymes70

History of Texas....Santa Ana the former great leader of Mexico wanted to settle Texas with Mexicans to use as a Buffer Zone between Mexico and the United States. Santa Ana created incentives for Mexicans to move to Texas, most Mexicans that moved to Texas stayed only a short time...cold winters very hot summers made living in Texas difficult. All they could do was take siestas in the afternoon hours and do their work early and later and have recreation time at night.

Not sure this has anything to do with Texas, as when we were in Mexico, that was the pattern, and that's also the pattern in Spain, I'm told.

[love roses]

I've read something about Texas being hard to live in back then and I'll do some homework on it, but I'm sure siestas were popular here too. I remember noon naptimes being really popular in S. Texas where my maternal grandparents and great grandparents lived. My ggrandpa would call it siesta and he was German