Air Conditioning had already been invented by the 1920’s and in fact it was Willis Carrier (top left) who in 1902 made Air Conditioning a basic invention reality but it would still not become a viable reality for home owners until some five decades later (explained further below), this was because it would take that long before technology would bring down prices enough to be an affordable option for the average family home. 

The first usable home air conditioning units became available in 1932 as window units, but the greatest problem still remained which was that the cost of purchasing this luxury for the average family was simply too high.

In 1930 the average annual household income was only $1,368 which did not leave much extra to purchase expensive luxuries like air conditioning and because Air Conditioning was a still new and developing industry, it came at a super-premium cost, so those of us who could not yet afford to buy them opted for the much less expensive but still very worthwhile cooling apparatus named ‘The Evaporative Cooler’, better known as the ‘swamp cooler’ which is how most people stayed cool in the 1920’s and 1930’s. 

It would not be until 1947 when 43,000 redesigned – window type – units were manufactured due to the great work of an engineer named Henry Galson who developed a compact and less expensive version of the window air conditioning unit. Read more about the history of air conditioning.