We had gas heat growing up in MA. It was a unit in the basement and came out of a 2 x 4 foot vent in the first floor. We used to take turns standing over it sometime. The bedrooms were on the second floor and there was an 18 inch square vent above the heater. Didn't work all that great so we kids had space heaters. I remember sleeping downstairs in a chair on some cold nights when there was no electric. Always had that gas heater as it didn't require electric to run so we always had heat in one spot of the house.
Kerosene heaters were popular too but cost too much to run anymore and I haven't seen a gas station that sells K in years.
Now they want to do away with gas altogether in places like NY, MA and force everyone on electric. Once that's done, expect hundreds or thousands to freeze every winter.
Sounds a little like us growing up — a few miles south of Buffalo on Lake Erie.
Our heat was a coal furnace in the basement. Dad would “shake it down” (whatever that means) at night and in the morning. The heat came up through a (approx.) 4’ x 4’ register in the living room. Then that heat wafted up through smaller registers to the bedrooms upstairs.
By morning ... COLD!! You jumped out of bed and skipped across the hard wood floors because it was too cold to linger for a full step.