Lotta old Victorian homes and factories from that Era did the same thing (without water obviously just a big tower to catch the wind). More like an attic fan than an AC in those cases, still a pretty clever way to move air without electricity. Always impressed by how clever people were back in the old times
I cant speak to other parts of the U.S. but where I am from, people would design their farm houses so that when you opened all the windows, the natural wind direction wanted to blow through your house and naturally "cool" it. Coming from a house with AC, it seemed like a shit system lol, but i guess compared to being roasted in your stuffy house, it was probably pretty nice
Frankly, ceasing to design homes and factories that way was a mistake. Stack effect ventilation is no less of an important part of green building technology today than it ever was.