{"id":9125,"date":"2018-08-24T16:25:57","date_gmt":"2018-08-24T21:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=9125"},"modified":"2018-08-24T16:25:57","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T21:25:57","slug":"keeping-your-cool-in-days-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2018\/08\/24\/keeping-your-cool-in-days-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Your Cool in Days Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite a few cooler days this week, the current local weather forecast reminds us that we are still in the heat of August. We will soon be retreating again to our air-conditioned spaces!<\/p>\n

This got us thinking about how Davenporters beat the heat in days past. What were the  earliest modern cooling devices and when did they become available here?<\/p>\n

We thought we’d share these notices and advertisements from the local newspapers that give some history of the search for summertime comfort. We hope they help keep you feeling cool!<\/p>\n

A newly-installed fan at the Scott County Savings Bank made front-page news on June 1, 1892:<\/p>\n

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The Davenport Democrat<\/em>, June 1, 1892, p. 1<\/p><\/div>\n

The St. James Hotel soon followed suit by adding electric fans to the dining room. No mention of fans for hotel rooms, though!<\/p>\n

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The Daily Times<\/em>, July 6, 1892, p. 4<\/p><\/div>\n

By 1893, Clausen Electric Company at 420 Brady Street was advertising ceiling fans for the home. What luxury!<\/p>\n

In 1894, the Davenport Power and Light company was making small fans for those with electricity:<\/p>\n

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The Davenport Democrat<\/em>, May 16, 1894, p. 1.<\/p><\/div>\n

These advertisements for W. H. Grandsen suggest that an electric fan was still considered a luxury by 1900:<\/p>\n

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The Daily Times<\/em>, May 2, 1900, p. 6.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Daily Times<\/em>, May 2, 1900, p. 5.<\/p><\/div>\n

Advertisements for air-conditioning began to appear in the 1920s. The Capitol Theatre was one of the newest and most up-to-date cinemas when it opened on December, 1920. By 1923, it was boasting of its \u201cfreezing plant\u201d which kept the theater cool in the midst of summer heat.<\/p>\n

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The Davenport Democrat and Leader<\/em>, July 27, 1923, p. 6.<\/p><\/div>\n

By the 1930s, many local businesses were proclaiming that the cool air inside their establishments made them wonderful places to visit.  Perhaps you remember some of these?<\/p>\n

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The Daily Times<\/em>, June 29, 1934, p. 11.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Davenport Democrat and Leader<\/em>, July 15, 1934, p. 6.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Daily Times,<\/em> August 2, 1934, p. 6.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Davenport Democrat and Leader<\/em>, August 5, 1934, p. 9.<\/p><\/div>\n

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And Tri-City Electric led the way by offering air conditioning for private residences:<\/p>\n

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Davenport Democrat and Leader<\/em>, June 14, 1934.<\/p><\/div>\n

Our favorite advertisement is this one from the Capitol Theatre in 1924.  We love the snow-and-ice-covered logo and the phrase “Cool as the mountain breezes. Our gigantic freezing plant does it.”<\/p>\n

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The Daily Times<\/em>, July 12, 1924, p. 8.<\/p><\/div>\n

We hope you stay cool here in Davenport in the remaining days of Summer 2018!<\/p>\n

(posted by Amy D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite a few cooler days this week, the current local weather forecast reminds us that we are still in the heat of August. We will soon be retreating again to our air-conditioned spaces! This got us thinking about how Davenporters … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[1909,1910,1908,262,263],"class_list":["post-9125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-history","tag-air-conditioning","tag-capitol-theatre","tag-electric-fans","tag-heat-wave","tag-summer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXc-2nb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9125"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9151,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9125\/revisions\/9151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}