Photo: Sept 15th 1911 - How did people cope with heat?

I get addicted to these old photos, and what always amazes me is how people can dress like in the photo below, and not die of heat stroke.

It does not matter if it is the middle of summer, they all dress like this. I would genuinly like to know how they can tolerate the heat. Not to mention how they could ever sleep in the city on the 2nd and 3rd floor with room temps in the low 100 degree range in the peak of July;s heat, and no wind to speak of.


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Teens today would think the same of how older women wear high heels.
 
People were generally thinner. My family grew up in NYC and tolerated the summer heat. Old pictures show them not in suits, but in summer clothes.
Yep. Perhaps we should ask @Trav about it when he and his family landed in 1900. Nice hat btw.

German-immigrants-arriving-at-Ellis-Island-NY-circa-1900.jpg
 
I grew up in the desert and our car didn’t have A/C. A lot of cars didn’t, some houses didn’t. We didn’t die, just get used to the misery. My truck a/c died when Inwas in my 20s and I never fixed it. Looking back I don’t know how I dealt with it. You quickly get spoiled and feel like things are impossible
 
I think they were tougher in many regards too. Do keep in mind that, for example, Washington, D.C. used to empty in the Summer. The fact that AC was invented is claimed to be a factor (not some total cause or reason) for expanded government.
Ergo, they took seasonal siestas to deal with some of the heat.

Is it New Mexico where the legislative session is a tightly organized 2-3 weeks? I bet that originated partially due to heat and discomfort. Also, the lower overall population must result in lesser need for legislation. Also, with a century of communication improvements, people can align etc. and show up to vote rather than gather to hammer out details.

Complaining about something like heat then would be like complaining about gravity today.

Also, not everyone was of "better character". I firmly believe forced proximity (no cars or other escapes) quashed lots of bad behavior.

Personal: When my grandma sat in front of her living room window air conditioner (the only one in her house) she said, "How'd we ever get along without AC?" My dad answered, "When it was Summer, you were supposed to be hot." His short answers were the best.
 
Slept in parks,or wrapped in a wet sheet. Look how many people died from the heat. 1896 new york city 1500 people. 1936 july about 5000 part of the dust bowl in the upper midwest & plains. People weren't tougher didn't have a choice.
There is a number for everything in life, its all part of life and easy to throw around numbers to make people think that someone else should take care of them. There is always a choice. Back then they could say the early settlers were much worse off too and the cave man too, he didnt even invent fire until later on.

Ok, lets go to the present, modern medicine, yet no one is publishing the fact that, get this OVER 250,000 (two hundred fifty thousand) Americans die EVERY year in hospitals because of mistakes. Some say as high as 400,000 - 250,000 is the VERY conservative number.
See, its easy to throw around numbers and so back to my first post in this thread. Work hard, provide for yourself, be independent/self reliant and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Oh yes, people were tougher for sure, they either worked or they (and their family) starved. No one in this country starves anymore.
(no politics)
 
Beating the wife and kids and kicking the dog....but they wore suits to ball games!
SERIOUSLY: I feel the "modern world" (industrial revolution on...) has bred immeasurable dissatisfaction for many people. In short, you gotta find a place in some 'machine' where you're happy and functionable or be unhappy or be an outcast.
The retarded farmhand can't earn his keep and go off somewhere during non-work periods. Every inch is spoken for.

The homeless people all over Denver (described here and seen by me) aren't there because they sell pot in Colorado. It's because old farm land and houses where they existed is being reutilized.
This ain't no hippie rap; it's an overly broad description.

Sure, some are just scunges but there's social poisoning too. The work garden is dry. There's too much junk distraction during youth (TV and other nonsense). And let's face it, "successful people" who are parents aspire to a man-is lord-of-his-manner mindset. It's difficult for many to know how to go about things. BANG...we go for numbness a lot. Some parent who isn't a shining star and who's perennially behind in his bills isn't going to be an inspiring parent while he's dog-paddling to stay alive. Don't show weakness. Now you're prey for the manipulators. You're not weak....someone took the American Dream FROM you. Sound familiar?
 
The biggest boost to that number is almost certainly tied to improved sanitation and clean drinking water, more than anything else that may be considered a factor.
Or the fact that far, far, far fewer young children are dying because of what are now preventable afflictions.

People lived to be a ripe old age back then darn-near as often as we do now; but when more people than not don't see their 5th birthday, your averages suffer.
 
You get used to it. People are living longer now because we have better nutrition.

Really?!

LMAO!

The U.S. is one of the FATTEST nations on the planet!
Sure, we have better nutrition available to us but most people like the “fast and convenient” route. Right through the drive-thru.

In the early 1900s, a major factor in the lower life expectancy was the quality of medicine. There were many illnesses back then that could and normally would become fatal.

Nowadays “modern medicine,” in a lot of cases, diagnose and treats many of those previously fatal illnesses. Not all, but a significantly noticeable improvement over the past 100+ years. Thankfully.
 
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Not so sure people ate all that well back then. Griebenscmalz (pork fat) on bread was a favorite of my Grandfather. That and Cigarettes.
 
People were tougher back then. Or more stoic. They just assumed life was tough and you had to be tougher.

From what I understand people slept on screened in porches back in the day before fans.
In Melbourne, they sed to take a fold up bed to the beach if they were close...

I've never lived with A/C, except while on camups at Uni...if it's hot, it's hot, if it's cold it's cold, and if it's raining, it's wet...I can't control it, so I don't let it worry me in the least (I do use heaters, but do snow angels in board shorts if I get the opportunity).

Pics below, a miner's shack in our district, circa 1880, and what the view from my front door would have been (were my house there, not built until 1940), when the military were called in to protect the colliery early last century...local weather ranges from -11C to +42C. (12F to 107)

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Beating the wife and kids and kicking the dog....but they wore suits to ball games!
SERIOUSLY: I feel the "modern world" (industrial revolution on...) has bred immeasurable dissatisfaction for many people. In short, you gotta find a place in some 'machine' where you're happy and functionable or be unhappy or be an outcast.
The retarded farmhand can't earn his keep and go off somewhere during non-work periods. Every inch is spoken for.

The homeless people all over Denver (described here and seen by me) aren't there because they sell pot in Colorado. It's because old farm land and houses where they existed is being reutilized.
This ain't no hippie rap; it's an overly broad description.

Sure, some are just scunges but there's social poisoning too. The work garden is dry. There's too much junk distraction during youth (TV and other nonsense). And let's face it, "successful people" who are parents aspire to a man-is lord-of-his-manner mindset. It's difficult for many to know how to go about things. BANG...we go for numbness a lot. Some parent who isn't a shining star and who's perennially behind in his bills isn't going to be an inspiring parent while he's dog-paddling to stay alive. Don't show weakness. Now you're prey for the manipulators. You're not weak....someone took the American Dream FROM you. Sound familiar?
Not sure how to read this 🙃
But everyone is responsible for their own wellbeing.
 
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