Van Horn High School is a public high school located at 1109 S. Arlington Ave. in Independence, Missouri, United States, in the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of 2008, it is part of the Independence School District. It previously was part of the Kansas City, Missouri School District when it opened in 1955. School background Van Horn was originally constructed in 1955 on the site of "Honeywood", the house of former Civil War era Kansas City mayor Robert T. Van Horn, a prominent newspaper publisher and statesman. The area close to Van Horn is known as "Inner City" and was annexed by the city of Independence. Van Horn serves sections of Independence, Sugar Creek, and Blue Summit. Van Horn opened in 1955 and its first class graduated in 1956. The school colors of gray and red were chosen by the first student council and the name "falcons" was selected because it was the mascot of the newly established U.S. Air Force Academy. The school was dubbed "The Factory" because of its new age metallic look that covered the exterior of the building. Patrons suggested that until the renovations of 2011, many people struggled to identify it as a school when they drove by as it looked much like a factory that one would see in an industrial area. Van Horn was named the first "A+ designated school" of the Kansas City, Missouri School District. During the 1960s, continued to grow as many professionals and blue collar workers flocked to the area. The school ballooned to over 2000 students in the late 1960s and it became apparent that another high school was needed to ease overcrowding. A measure was put on the ballot for a new high school to be built at Cassell Park which was located in southwest Independence. The measure passed but the Kansas City School District decided to reallocate funds towards building a new middle school in another part of the city. Patrons suggested that this caused a great deal of frustration and planted the seeds for animosity between the community and the Kansas City School District. At an attempt to compete with urban sprawl, the KCSD began busing students to Van Horn from all parts of Kansas City. This program led to students attending Van Horn who were not from the community. As the building and school spirit deteriorated, the school began to drop off academically during