Ruskin Heights, Missouri

Ruskin Heights is housing development located in South Kansas City, Missouri. Ruskin Heights was built in the early 1950's and was in the Levittown community model. In 1952 the Whitley estate, a large track of land east of Hickman Mills, Missouri became available for deployment. The land was bought by the Paver brothers of New York who built the houses. The development included schools, two parks, and a shopping center. At the time it was built it was a separate community, in Jackson County, Missouri. The area was annexed by Kansas City, Missouri in 1961. The area is best known for the F-5 Tornado that stuck the area on May 20, 1957. Many of the houses where destroyed or heavily damaged. The tornado that stuck that day is often simply called the Ruskin Heights Tornado, although many other areas where effected. The area is with in the Hickman Mills Consolidated School Distinct #1.

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There is a book that tells the story of the people who lived through it, by one of the people who had lived in Ruskin Heights.

Caught In The Path (ISBN 0-9655774-0-6) By Carolyn Glenn Brewer.