Ruskin Heights Tornado Memorial

Dedicated in 1958, this memorial commemorates the forty-four lives that were lost in Kansas City's most deadly tornado the prior year. The tornado traveled more than sixty miles through Kansas before crossing state lines and hitting Kansas City, Missouri in May of 1957. By the time it reached the Ruskin Heights neighborhood, it had become a deadly F5 tornado. As the tornado touched down, it tore through the community's grocery store, school, and homes. The tornado did not last long, but the damage was severe with 44 people losing their lives and another 531 injured. In addition to the loss of life and injuries, many in the area had lost their homes and livelihoods. This memorial was erected nearly a year later in honor of those who had died in the storm and as a monument to the community's struggle to rebuild.

On May 20, 1957, around 6 pm, an increasingly severe storm front began to form near Williamsburg, Kansas, forming a tornado as it traveled northeast toward Kansas City. Residents in its path had almost no warning that a tornado was coming as the National Weather Service warning system of the current era had not yet been formed and radar was still a relatively new technology when it came to forecasting weather. Many residents in southern Kansas City, including the Ruskin Heights neighborhood where the storm touched down, didn't have basements leaving them helpless in the path of the oncoming storm.

The tornado first hit Martin City at 7:30 pm, leaving nearly every building in town either severely damaged or outright destroyed. It then moved to residential areas in Ruskin Heights. Since many people there didn't have their own basements, some of them tried to find shelter in other people's homes. One report said that over fifty people tried to pack themselves into a single basement to try to escape the tornado.

After an hour and a half on the ground, the tornado left the ground near Knobtown. By then it had claimed 44 lives and injured more than 500 others. Bobbi Davis, a young girl at the time of the tornado, recently shared her story on 65th anniversary of the deadly storm. With incomplete information as the tornado approached their car, her father made the decision to drive as fast as possible towards a relative's home in hopes of reaching safety. The tornado lifted the family's 1955 Chevy high into the air where it was later found lodged within the exterior of a water tower. While Bobbi and her father lived, she shared that the decision to try to outrun the storm haunted him for the rest of his life as his wife Cornelia and seven-year-old Katheryn Davis did not survive.

This memorial was dedicated on May 18, 1958, to the lives lost to the storm. Two thousand people attended its ceremony and figures such as Senator Stuart Symington spoke to the crowd.

The three windows of the memorial represent Faith, Hope and Love, which enabled the people of the community to survive its most horrible tragedy, the "Twilight Twister" of May 20, 1957.

-Newspaper coverage of the dedication ceremony, found on the KC History blog.

Wells, Michael. The Ruskin Heights Tornado: Sixty Years Since, KC History - The Kansas City Public Library. May 17th, 2017. Accessed August 25th, 2022. https://kchistory.org/blog/ruskin-heights-tornado-sixty-years.

D'Marko, Dave. Survivor describes flying into water tower on KC’s deadliest tornado anniversary, WDAF-TV. May 20th, 2022. Accessed August 29th, 2022. https://fox4kc.com/news/survivor-describes-flying-into-water-tower-on-kcs-deadliest-tornado-anniversary/.