Grew up in small town in W. Tx and had swamp cooler, rotary phones, b&w tv-no cable 3 channels, indoor plumbing. I remember after joining the service in 86, dad bought a window unit ac. I still have, in workable condition, the first dial turn control microwave oven. My how times have changed.

Did not have AC or electrical heat until I was 17 years old. Middle 70's.

We never had either a swamp cooler or A/C when I was a young kid, under the age of 8. We moved into the Dallas city limits when I was about to go into the 3rd grade and still had neither until I was about 10-11 and we got a big used swamp cooler from a guy my dad did some work for as part of the payment. Dad put it in one of my bedroom windows so it could point down the hall, and he kept a window open a bit on the other side of the house to help draw the "cold" air. I think we got two window unit A/Cs when I was 14-15.

Just before we moved into town, we got a small (like about 10-12") B&W TV. We were the first on our block, so all the kids came over in the afternoon to watch a cartoon show and Howdy Doody. I think we had two channels to watch and I was the remote. I was in high school (1960-63) when we got a color TV.

In the burbs we only had party line phones - first a 4-party and then a 2-party. It was a beating because there was one lady that was always on it who yelled at my mom and dad if they picked up the receiver to make a call. We got a private line when we moved.

No AC until I was about 9 or 10. Had some small loud fans that moved hot air. We moved our beds next to the window in the summer.
We had a console BW tv but got a color tv in the late 60s.
We did have a private line.

Funny thing about party lines. In 1985 I built a house near Brock Tx and could only get a 4 house party line. Had that for 2 years before they got me a private number.

First house I remember we had an attic fan and no a/c.

After that we had AC except one of our lake houses had no AC.

I walked to school uphill both ways in the snow.

No A/C until I went in the USAF and got stationed at Langley in Virginia. I grew up in NE Pennsylvania and only had a window box fan for summers. Summers were sometimes almost non-existent as well.
Black and white old Round picture tube TVs until around 1966. Watched the JFK funeral on TV in B&W in 63. Phone was a wall hanging dial phone on a party line. Country livin'. Always had an indoor bathroom though and hot water.

No AC until late 70's... B&W until 1976... Remember having to whack the side of the TV to get the vertical hold??? Remember having to take tubes to the hardware store to check them???... Didn't have cable until I got to college in 1980, remember only having 4 channels on over the air? NBC, CBS, ABC and an independent... We had a party line until I move into my own house with the wife in 1985... We always had indoor, but with 8 brothers and sister the boys did relieve themselves outside occasionally... When it got hot Dad would put a fan in the kitchen window and tell everyone to leave their bedroom doors open so it would draw air through everyone's windows...

Funny thing is, today we went with over the air TV and we get something like 36 channels... Can watch All in the Family, Gun Smoke, Beverly Hillbillies and others all day if you'd like... Dan

Swamp cooler, and Antanea, 3 channels, 2 NBC,7 CBS, 9 ABC, Party line telephone. Mom lived like that until she died in 2005 except for party line.

Attic fan and black and white TV until I went into the army in 1970. Window units and color TV when I got home in 1972.

party phone line, 5 houses. 1 was an old lady who would listen to everyone's conversation., No AC, no dryer. Woodstove was all the heat we had most of the winter. Did you know you can freeze dry clothes in the winter. Take them down frozen stiff like boards. Well water pumped straight from the earth, no filters, fluoride or chlorine. Life was better then.

Yep, was a different time for sure.

Swamp cooler , large gas furnace in the living area ,small gas heater in bathroom ( 1 )for 5 people.
My folks never had central air and heat until they retired ( 1985 ish)
Swamp coolers work great in the Panhandle , Low humidity. My Grand parents in Love Co OK , never had
AC of any kind. Fans Only. No party line , our phone # was BR 5449. no joke.
My sister still has our black rotary phone , was still working last I checked.

MO

No AC at home until I was 12 years old. We got a window unit then. We slept with windows open and fans when it was hot. Black and white TV with rabbit ears or antenna. We got three channels out of Shreveport. We had rotary phones on the wall or on a table at various times, all party lines at first. Our phone number was four digits. When we moved into town we had to dial five digits. As far as I know Dallas and all of East Texas had one area code, 214. We never had to dial it if we were calling within it. When we lived on Caddo our water supply consisted of a pump that pulled in lake water. When my parents split up and I lived with my mom we had a well and the water turned everything the color of rust.

None of our schools ever had AC, including high school. Our high school was a 65 year old three story stone building. We learned just fine there.

lived in the NC mountains til 13..no A/C but had an attic fan

after that..all A/C wherever I've moved