How New Yorkers coped with a smothering heat wave in 1911

NYC heat wave

Beating the heat, long before air-conditioning

Alex Q. Arbuckle

July 1911

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Beginning on July 4, 1911, the northeastern United States was smothered by an 11-day heat wave. Temperatures reached well past 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Boston and New York. In New York, people sought respite from the heat in the shade of parks, in fountains and at the beach. Electric fans were widely sold out.When the heat wave finally broke in the city, 146 people and 600 horses had died.

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A crowd of several hundred… were watching a thermometer in Park Row at 1:30 P.M…. The sun came peeping around the corner, dispersing the crowd with a single glare, and immediately the mercury began a lively dance. Nor did it stop until it reached 105 at 3:40 P.M. - New York Times, July 7, 1911

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Businessmen found it a relief to come to their offices in the tall skyscrapers as early as possible yesterday in order to take advantage of the wind which was blowing fairly at the high altitudes. - New York Times, July 7, 1911

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Two of the fallow deer in Central Park were sunstroke in the morning…. Keeper Foley saw them acting strangely and knew immediately what ailed them. He picked up the unconscious animals… and poured a solution of aconite and brandy down their throats…. The deer, when they had tasted of the brandy, winked graciously at Keeper Foley, and resumed their station on four legs. At hourly intervals they came to their doctor for more brandy. - New York Times, July 8, 1911

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