We are close to the time of year when the big decision on air-conditioning must be made. Flip the switch now or wait for hotter weather? Some of us crank it up when the heat starts, others are more parsimonious and delay to save money.

In the ’40s and ’50s most of us didn’t have that luxury. Air conditioning was rare. Attendance at movies was often higher in hot weather because theaters were some of the few places with air conditioning. There were banners on the marquees saying “It’s Cool Inside.” You could watch a movie and eat your popcorn without sweating.

But in those days a lot of families dealt with the summer heat by getting out of town. Many of the posh Springfield folks went to Michigan for the summer. Others had places at Matanzas Beach or Lake Springfield.

In those days wives who worked outside the home were rare. That made it easy for Mom and the kids to decamp for the summer. The dads would work in the city all week, then join the family for the weekends. My grandfather, who was a formal man, always wore a suit, as did most businessmen. He also wore starched white shirts that he changed three times a day.

The destination of many families was “the cottage.” Some were fancy, some very plain, but they all shared a location that was cooler than the city’s closely situated houses and hot brick and asphalt streets.

When Lake Springfield was built in the ’30s, many cottages were built there as second homes. For example, a display from the Chicago World’s Fair consisted of several cottages. At the end of the fair they were purchased, moved to Springfield and made into the neighborhood of Cottage Grove.

The Gekas family from around the corner had a cottage there that they used for summers and weekends. The Westenberger family down the block from us also had a very nice place at Cottage Grove.

My wife’s family made an annual move to Matanzas Beach south of Havana. It is on a long bay of the Illinois River with a road in front and houses between it and the water. There was a roadhouse, a little grocery store and a couple of other businesses. The Sorrill kids played in the water and in the sand of the beach. Many other Jacksonville families did the same. My uncle’s family had a cottage called “Lukeman’s Jug.” Though most of the cottages along that beach looked similar, their place was easy to find because there was a big ceramic jug by the path, a symbol perhaps of the jolly times to be had inside.

Closer to Springfield was the Old Salem Chautauqua on the Sangamon River across from New Salem. It was the first of the summer camps in the area. My grandmother attended camp meetings as a girl. Like all chautauquas, it was a series of lectures on history, politics, religion. It was the Ted Talks of the day. As time went on it evolved into a community of summer cottages. Nothing fancy, they were small, mostly uninsulated with screened-in porches. My neighbor Hubert Nelson had one.

My family didn’t move for the summer.

Just from inside to a porch. Our house had two screened-in porches downstairs and a sleeping porch upstairs. Those porches caught whatever evening breeze there was and kept us cooler than being in the house where the heat of the day built up.

And there were fans everywhere. They hung from the ceiling on the porches. Each room had a big oscillating fan.

Phil Bradley of Chatham remembers the hot summers of his youth. When asked whether to turn on the air conditioning his answer is “Turn it on, and don’t touch it until fall!”