Mission Hills

History

An Indian mission was established at the town's site in the 1830s, hence the name of the later settlement. The city started as a planned upscale community for the elite by J.C. Nichols to be built around the Mission Hills Country Club (Kansas) on the hills above Brush Creek just south of the Shawnee Methodist Mission. Most of the country club's property is in Kansas but its original clubhouse was in Kansas City, Missouri, allowing it to serve liquor, which was prohibited on the Kansas side. Nichols laid out plans in 1914. He had developed the country club to enhance the value of his Kansas properties after discovering that upscale buyers were reluctant to live on the Kansas side of the state line. Adjoining the club Nichols established the Community Golf Club. After it dramatically grew, it moved to what today is the Kansas City Country Club. Nichols lured the Kansas City Country Club to take over the land, and the Community Golf Club went on to establish the Indian Hills Country Club. Together, the three clubs became the most prestigious in the Kansas City metropolitan area; many rank them in order of prestige: Kansas City first, Mission Hills second, and Indian Hills third. Nichols opposed incorporation of the community fearing that a city would not adequately meet the needs of its residents or properly enforce housing covenants. Consequently, the Mission Hills Home Company was founded on August 18, 1914. One of the most publicized early enforcements involved forbidding the family of a sick woman to enclose her porch with glass. Faced with prospects of annexation by neighboring relatively lower income communities seeking its wealthy tax base, Mission Hills incorporated as a city in 1949. Many of the early houses were designed by Clarence E. Shepherd,…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  26,636
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  21,970
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  21,356
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  20,835
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  17,559
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  16,435
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  16,186
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  15,980

Most recent

• M 3.5 — 2024-03-15
  2 km NE of Ferrelview, Missouri
• M 2.6 — 2018-07-20
  1 km WNW of Saint Joseph, Missouri
• M 3.1 — 2007-03-23
  5 km N of Nortonville, Kansas
• M 3.3 — 2005-05-18
  Missouri