The northern half of Mission Hills -- north of 63rd Street -- is informally called "old Mission Hills" and is dominated by opulent houses on large lots. There are two private country clubs in this section: the Mission Hills Country Club and the Kansas City Country Club. The southern half, consisting of developments Belinder Hills, Indian Hills and Sagamore Hills, contains affluent upper middle class residences and the private Indian Hills Country Club.
Culture and notoriety
Mission Hills contains one church and no commercial properties. A recently-removed, coin-operated telephone near city hall was for many years considered the city's only commercial enterprise.
Mission Hills is in the Shawnee Mission public school district. Many residents, however, send their children to independent private schools in Kansas City, Missouri, such as the Pembroke Hill School and The Barstow School. Some send their children to Catholic schools such as Bishop Miege High School, Rockhurst High School, and Notre Dame de Sion.
Well-known Residents
Lee Berger, National Geographic Explorer and Paleoanthropogist
Henry Bloch, co-founder and present Chairman of the Board of H&R Block
George Brett, baseball player
Evan S. Connell: writer of Mr. Bridge and Mrs. Bridge
James Ellroy: writer
Thomas Frank: founder of The Baffler and author of What's the Matter with Kansas?
Donald J. Hall, Sr.: billionaire chairman of Hallmark Cards
Min Kao: Electronic billionaire chairman of Garmin
Ewing Kauffman: pharmaceutical magnate, philanthropist, and former owner of the Kansas City Royals baseball team
Tom Watson: renowned professional golfer
Geography
Mission Hills is located at 39°0'49N, 94°36'54W (39.013705, -94.615083). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.2 km² (2.0 mi²), all land. Despite this official measurement, Brush Creek runs through the northern section of the city.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,593 people, 1,284 households, and 1,104 families residing in the city. The population density was 686.8/km² (1,782.5/mi²). There were 1,318 housing units at an average density of 251.9/km² (653.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.22% White, 0.08% African American, 0.03% Native American, 0.86% Asian, 0.17% from other races, and 0.64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.09% of the population. 25.2% were of English, 21.4% German, 13.4% Irish and 7.1% American ancestry according to Census 2000.
There were 1,284 households out of which 38.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 81.2% were married couples living together, 3.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 14.0% were non-families. 12.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.06.
In the city the population was spread out with 29.6% under the age of 18, 3.1% from 18 to 24, 18.1% from 25 to 44, 32.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 98.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $188,821, and the median income for a family was $200,000. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $62,440 for females. The per capita income for the city was $95,405. About 1.4% of families and 1.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.8% of those under age 18 and 1.3% of those age 65 or over.
