I sometimes wonder how people survived in Arizona before the invention of Air Conditioning. Phoenix became an official city in 1868 and had people living there before that. Air conditioning wasn’t invented until 1902 and wasn’t widely used until decades later. Before that, how did these Arizona citizens survive the hot summers? I know I wouldn’t have been able to!
Architecture
Phoenix in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s regularly hit 110 degrees in summer months, yet families worked, raised kids, and lived their life without the luxury of air conditioning. Before AC, houses in Phoenix and other cities were built to survive the heat.
Thick clay walls acted as natural insulators, absorbing heat during the day. Most houses had shaded porches that wrapped around and kept the sun off the walls. Windows were angled away from the sun, and often times places in a way that allowed wind inside. Most houses had high ceilings to allow the heat to raise, keeping the home a bit cooler.
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Making it work
Before modern Airconditioning, most phoenix residents at the time had screened in porches they would sleep in. It was a pain sleeping in a house that had been soaking in the sun all day, so they enjoyed Arizona’s cool nighttime air. According to the Phoenix Magazine, some people even slept in their lawns!
Another strategy people used to keep cool in their sleep was wrapping themselves in wet sheets to try and catch a breeze. A lot of people would hang wet towels in doorways and windows as well, cooling off the air as it came inside.
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Routines
When living in a hot city with no air-condition, you have to base your day around the weather. During this time, people would wake up early and start working before the sun hit its peak. In the afternoon, families would return home, rest, and do inside chores until the sun started to set, and the air cooled off…