Quote Originally Posted by emily_in_nc View Post
So true. The couple we are house-sitting for left a book here on the history of Prairie Village (very interesting read with many great photographs). There are quite a few pictures of what PV looked like back then. The book stated that every household was either given (or sold at a very low cost) a couple of trees to put up in their front yards and a couple to put up along the streetside of the sidewalk. Those little trees are now the tall, full, shade trees that are everywhere around. It took good vision to look towards the future and build a city like this! So different from what I am used to in new subdivisions where they come in and cut down all the trees to build houses.

I also feel comforted by the many large trees meaning that this is not a tornado-prone part of the state. My parents were glad to hear that as well!
Our neighborhood is like that, too. The houses are 50-60 years old, and each yard on our block had a pair of honey locust trees in the front yard. A lot of them have been cut down and/or replaced, but some are still standing. One of my older neighbors, who is the original owner of her house, has told me she remembers when the block was a big open field and goats grazed on it. It's interesting to picture the stages it's gone through.

I hate to say it, but all of tornado alley is tornado prone. Mature trees are really a bad thing because they can fall on you. BUT - I've lived in Kansas all my life and have never been hit by a tornado. Very few people I know have actually been through one. Just so you know what to do - and it sounds like you do - The odds are you won't go through one.