Walker: Before we became cool, we had porches

This time of year when temperatures flirt with or conquer 100 degrees every day the inevitable question is: How on earth did people survive before air conditioning?

The idea of spending a day or night in an non-airconditioned house seems unimaginable. The most obvious answer is that because few people had any form of artificial air conditioning in their homes before the 1950s, they had no idea what they were missing and simply toughed it out.

That's partly true, but not entirely. In fact, homes built in pre-air conditioning days were made to be livable without air conditioning. Many newer homes are not.

A drive through older parts of Wichita Falls will show you. Note that the homes built before the advent of any form of air conditioning tend to have tall roofs and spacious attics. Those attics weren't added just to store Grandma's old cedar chest, but to create a buffer between the blazing sun and the living areas of the house. Back then, most people just stayed out of the upstairs bedrooms during the heat of the day, opting to stay on the lower floors where it was a tad cooler. Many homes had tall ceilings so the heat could follow its natural tendency to rise above where people were.

Pre- air conditioning homes were also pre-Sheetrock homes. Brick and stone homes were really brick and stone not veneer. Wooden homes consisted of plaster and lath walls. Even prehistoric people knew caves were cool in the summer. Our more recent ancestors knew the insulation value of bringing cave-like walls above the ground.

Houses back then had lots of windows that would actually open and close. They were positioned so that opening one on one wall and another on another wall would pull a draft of air through the room. Likewise, the front doors were often lined up with the back doors so drafts through the screen doors would waft through the length of the house.

Then there's the front porch that nostalgic relic of yesteryear. In pre-television and computer days, people actually did sit on the porch in the relative cool of the evening and socialize with neighbors. In some older Wichita Falls neighborhoods you'll find the front porches closed in. That happened with the coming of air conditioning and TV. A back porch screened off from mosquitoes was an excellent alternative bedroom on those especially brutal nights.

Porches front, back and side had another purpose: they shaded the house from the sun. Trees, bushes and vines offered the same insulation. It's doubtful the earliest trees here were planted for their ornamental value.

Was it as comfy cool as our modern air-conditioned homes?

Absolutely not. But it was bearable.

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Walker: Before we became cool, we had porches