Ruskin Heights is a housing development located in South Kansas City, Missouri. Ruskin Heights was built in the early 1950s and was in the Levittown community model. In 1952 the Whitley estate, a large tract 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 struck the area on May 20, 1957. Many of the houses were destroyed or heavily damaged. The tornado that struck that day is often simply called the Ruskin Heights Tornado, although many other areas were effected. The area is within the Hickman Mills Consolidated School District #1.
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.