Lee's Summit, Missouri, United States

🇺🇸 Lee's Summit is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is a suburb in the Kansas City metropolitan area. It resides in Jackson County (predominantly) as well as Cass County. It is the 6th most populous city in both Missouri and the Kansas City metropolitan area.

History The "Town of Strother" (not to be confused with a town of the same name in Monroe County) was founded by William Bullitt Howard in October 1865. He named it for his wife, Maria D. Strother, the daughter of William D. Strother formerly of Bardstown, Kentucky. Howard came to Jackson County in 1842 from Kentucky, married Maria in 1844, and by 1850 he and Maria had 833 acres (3.37 km²) and a homestead 5 miles (8 km) north of town. Howard was arrested for being a Confederate in October 1862, near the beginning of the Civil War, and after being paroled he took his family back to Kentucky for the duration of the war. After the war ended he returned and, knowing that the Missouri Pacific Railroad was surveying a route in the area, platted the town with 70 acres (280,000 m²) in the fall of 1865 as the town of Strother.

In November 1868, the town's name was changed to the "Town of Lee's Summit", most likely to honor early settler Dr. Pleasant John Graves Lea, who had moved to Jackson County in 1849 from Bradley County, Tennessee. Lea was listed as the postmaster of nearby Big Cedar in the 1855 United States Official Postal Guide. Dr. Lea was killed in August 1862 by Kansas Jayhawkers (or Redlegs).

When the surveyors for the Missouri Pacific Railroad came through, the local people and the railroad wanted to name the town in Dr. Lea's honor. He had a farm on the highest point and near the path of the tracks, and his murder had taken place near the site of the proposed depot. So they chose the name of "Lea's Summit", the "summit" portion to reflect its highest elevation on the Missouri Pacific Railroad between St. Louis and Kansas City. But they misspelled the name "Lees Summit" (with two "e's"; "Lee" instead of "Lea"; and leaving out the apostrophe) on a boxcar that was serving as a station and donated by the Missouri Pacific, then a sign next to the tracks, and finally in the printed time schedule for the railroad. It may be that this misspelling stuck and the name has remained "Lee's Summit" ever since.

Since the name was already being circulated and published with two "e's", the town petitioned the state legislature and incorporated its name in 1868 as: "Town of Lee's Summit".

The spelling is unusual because apostrophes are typically not included in place names due to potential confusion regarding whether the place is owned by the namesake person. Most possessive place names lack an apostrophe, such as Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

The growth of the town can be studied through historic Sanborn maps, which document building types and uses in the city during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[importance?]

In 1913, R. A. Long, the owner of a lumber company, began building his estate, named Longview Farm, on the western edge of the city and into part of Kansas City. When complete, it had a mansion, five barns and 42 buildings in the 1,700 acres (6.9 km²). Harrison Metheny, grandfather of jazz legend Pat Metheny, was an electrician during the construction of Longview Farm. The farm also had a church, Longview Chapel Christian Church, which was completed in 1915. It soon became internationally known as a showplace farm. Today, one of the horse barns is home to Longview Farm Elementary. The church and mansion are on the National Register of Historic Places. Other parts of the farm have been turned into Longview Lake, Longview Community College, and a development called New Longview. Lee's Summit is also home to Missouri Town 1855 and Lee's Summit Historical Cemetery.

Geography Lee's Summit lies near Missouri's western border with Kansas and is further north than south relative to the rest of the state. The city borders Kansas City to the west and north-west, Independence, Missouri to the north, and a number of smaller, more rural cities to the south and east. It is part of the Kansas City, MO-KS Metropolitan Statistical Area.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 65.911 square miles (170.71 km²), of which 63.895 square miles (165.49 km²) is land and 2.016 square miles (5.22 km²) is water.

Demographics The 2020 United States census counted 101,108 people, 37,664 households, and 27,316 families in Lee's Summit. The population density was 1,582.3 per square mile (611.0/km²). There were 39,495 housing units at an average density of 618.1 per square mile (238.7/km²). The racial makeup was 78.64% (79,516) white, 8.92% (9,019) black or African-American, 0.32% (321) Native American, 2.37% (2,401) Asian, 0.15% (147) Pacific Islander, 1.7% (1,714) from other races, and 7.9% (7,990) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 4.6% (4,583) of the population.

Of the 37,664 households, 34.9% had children under the age of 18; 58.6% were married couples living together; 23.3% had a female householder with no husband present. Of all households, 22.9% consisted of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.6 and the average family size was 3.1.

25.8% of the population was under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 25.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.4 years. For every 100 females, the population had 90.7 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older, there were 88.5 males.

The 2016-2020 5-year American Community Survey estimates show that the median household income was $93,295 (with a margin of error of +/- $3,679) and the median family income was $108,397 (+/- $3,999). Males had a median income of $61,941 (+/- $2,306) versus $41,989 (+/- $1,903) for females. The median income for those above 16 years old was $50,625 (+/- $1,528). Approximately, 3.5% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.2% of those under the age of 18 and 4.6% of those ages 65 or over.

Economy: Top employers According to the town's Economic Development Council, the top employers in the city include: 1 Lee's Summit R-7 schools; 2 Homeland Security - USCIS; 3 Saint Luke's East Hospital; 4 Truman Medical Center - Lakewood; 5 John Knox Village; 6 GEHA Holdings Inc.; 7 City of Lee's Summit; 8 Lee's Summit Medical Center; 9 ReDiscover; 10 CVS Caremark Call Center; 11 Metropolitan Community College - Longview; 12 Quest Diagnostics; 13 Unity Village; 14 Aspen Contracting; 15 Viracor-Eurofins; 16 IPL Plastics; 17 R&D Leverage.

City government Lee's Summit is a charter and council-manager form of government, represented by a mayor and a city council. The city council appoints a city manager. Each of the four districts are represented by two council members whose terms are staggered and expire every four years. No council member may serve more than two consecutive terms.

Education Lee's Summit is served by parts of three public school districts: Lee's Summit R-VII School District, Blue Springs R-IV School District, Raymore-Peculiar R-II School District. Lee's Summit has four religious private schools as well: Summit Christian Academy (formerly Lee's Summit Community Christian School), Our Lady of Presentation Catholic School, Lee's Summit Academy (formerly Libby Lane Academy), and St. Michael the Archangel Catholic High School. Longview Community College is located on the western edge of Lee's Summit and is part of Metropolitan Community College (Kansas City) system. It also is home to the Summit Technology Center which is a branch campus of the University of Central Missouri.

Lee's Summit has three public libraries, branches of the Mid-Continent Public Library, on Oldham Parkway, Colbern Road, and Blue Parkway.

Transport The Historic Jefferson Highway (known as the "Palm to Pine" highway) runs through Lee's Summit.

Transport: Road • I-470 is an Interstate 70 spur through Lee's Summit into southern Kansas City. • US 40: Forms half of Lee's Summit's northern border with Independence. • US 50: Follows I-435 from the west to I-470 then spurs off in Lee's Summit and becomes just US 50. • Route 150: A highway linking southern Lee's Summit, and Grandview to the Kansas suburbs at State Line Road. • Route 291: Formerly an eastern bypass route of US 71, the minor freeway connects Harrisonville and Lee's Summit to Independence, Sugar Creek, Liberty, KCI Airport and northern Kansas City. It fuses with I-470 through parts of Lee's Summit. • Route 350: Connector highway that brings together I-435 with I-470 and US 50.

Transport: Other • Lee's Summit (Amtrak station) • Lee's Summit Municipal Airport.

Healthcare Two general medical and surgical hospitals which provide emergency services—Lee's Summit Medical Center and Saint Luke's East Hospital—are both located in Lee's Summit.

Media • Lee's Summit Journal • The Kansas City Star • The Lee's Summit Tribune.