October 18, 2025. Save the Date!!

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On Sunday, October 18, at 10am, the Ruskin Heights Tornado Memorial will be rededicated. Please save the date. 
You may recall the original was destroyed when a car slammed into the Memorial and destroyed it (above).

The Memorial commemorates the May 20, 1957, F-5 tornado that killed 44 and injured 500+ in eastern Kansas (starting near Williamsburg) and moved across the south part of the Kansas City, Missouri, area. This was the type of tornado -- a violent storm in a densely populated area -- that used to cause 100+ deaths. But this was the first time the (then) Weather Bureau issued what would be called (today) tornado warnings. 

Since the 1880's, the Weather Bureau had banned itself from issuing tornado warnings because they believed more people would be killed by panic rather than the tornado. Joe Audsley and Bob Babb, who genuinely believed they would be fired the next day, disobeyed the ban and warned their fellow citizens as the tornado moved toward the area. The Weather Bureau was, at long last, in the tornado warning business. The rebuilt memorial will have an additional plaque to observe the Bureau's first tornado warning 
After the dedication, there will be a Hickman Mills Community Day in the parking lot of Ruskin High School which is next door. There will be fun, games, entertainment, resources and food. 

Please come and join us!!

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