I grew up in inner-city Milwaukee. I don’t remember having A/C at school or at home.
Just fans the size of airplane engines! At least ONE KID each year got sucked into one. ;) (Kidding!)
BTW, it got to at least 101° today & that’s actual temp, not heat index. The index was forecast to be 105 to 110, but we may have surpassed that since the actual temp was higher than forecast.
The ‘city folk’ (rich ones) before AC used to migrate to the mountains during the summer for cooler air & less humidity. Now, with AC available to most people, that migration doesn’t really happen any more. With weather like we’re having, a cooler mountain clime is nonexistent.