Coal powered central heating, defense housing, Bantam, Connecticut, January 1942

The heating unit is in the kitchen of Fred Heath’s four-room apartment in the new federally-financed homes for eighty families just a few minutes from the Warren McArthur factory in Bantam. The well-insulated coal fire puts steam in the radiators and provides the heat for cooking. The tenants are well-pleased although on several nights when the temperature dropped to ten degrees below zero they were forced to replenish the fuel every two or three hours.