LOCAL Houston | The City Guide June 2017 | Page 57

FOOD | ARTS | COMMUNITY | STYLE+LEISURE
Air cooling with commercial ice dates back to approximately 1910,
when ice could be purchased for as little as four dollars a ton
THE STORY OF HOUSTON
AIR CONDITIONING IN HOUSTON
By Lindsay Scovil and Willis R. Woolrich
Images courtesy of The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University
of Texas at Austin, Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston, Texas,
Houston Public Library, Houston, Texas
TO COMBAT HOUSTON’S STIFLING SUMMER HEAT BEFORE THE INTRO-
DUCTION OF AIR CONDITIONING AS WE KNOW IT TODAY, EARLY
SETTLERS IN THE AREA RELIED ON CREATIVE ARCHITECTURE AND ICE
TO COOL THEIR HOMES. In the nineteenth century, homes were built with
thick walls and multiple doors to create a system of cross-ventilation, first
introduced to the area by the Mexican and the Spanish. At night the doors
were opened, permitting a flow of air through the rooms. This lowered the
temperature of the entire home, which was then closed up again at sunup in
an attempt to trap the cooler air inside. For the night sleeping hours, while
the house was cooling for the next day, the homeowner and his family
sometimes slept out-of-doors, where they could obtain the benefit of natural
night cooling.
Air cooling with commercial ice dates back to approximately 1910, when
ice could be purchased for as little as four dollars a ton. At first the 300-
pound blocks of ice were placed in a vault inside the home or building
through which a fan blew air into an outlet duct and then on to the space
to be cooled. By 1920 the ice had been placed in an enclosed pool and
the resulting ice water circulated to fan radiators in order to cool rooms,
auditoriums, and restaurants.
The success of these cooling systems was limited, however, and Houston
residents sought alternative ways to cool down. Local swimming pools and
ice cream parlors were popular ways to combat the summer heat. Strolls
through shaded parks were a common activity for Houstonians well into the
early twentieth century.
The first refrigerated air-cooled building in the Houston area was the Rice
Hotel cafeteria, air-conditioned in 1922. Movie theaters were early adapt-
ers of air conditioning. Will Horwitz installed air conditioning in his Texan
Theater downtown in 1926, earlier than many other movie houses in the
south. Soon, wealthier Houstonians were installing air conditioning in their
homes, and in 1938 the Houston Chamber of Commerce boasted 427
air-conditioning units across the city.
Reprinted from the Texas State Historical
Association’s Handbook of Houston, a
project in cooperation with the Houston
History Alliance. For more information,
visit ww w.HoustonHistoryAlliance.org.
By 1940 Texas had become a national manufacturing center for air-cooling
machines and inventions, and the air-conditioning industry began to develop
units for automobiles as well. By the 1950s, almost all Houston buildings
were constructed with cooling systems, and modern architecture began to
reflect this. Porches, high ceilings, and breezeways were no longer needed
to help cool the space. In 1965 the Houston Astrodome attracted global
attention as the first air-conditioned sports stadium in the world.
Today, few Houstonians could imagine living without the manufactured com-
fort of cool homes, cars, and buildings. It’s no surprise that Houston touts
itself as the “air-conditioning capital of the world.”
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