I went to Catholic school in the '50s, and we were taught to read by sight. I still remember my first reading lesson: the nun wrote the word "Look" on the board and pointed out that it had two big eyes. We learned to read quickly, and I have always since been fast reader. Unfortunately, without phonics, I never really learned to spell, and have been a poor speller all my life.
Back when I started school (late 1950’s)...we used sight reading method (the Dick and Jane books were sight reading.) But our teacher taught us phonics too...she was old school.