Celina, Ohio

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City Hall.

Celina is a city in Mercer County, Ohio, United States. The population was 10,303 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Mercer County^GR6.

Celina is situated on the western shores of Grand Lake St. Marys. Huffy Bicycle and Mersman Furniture formerly had manufacturing plants in Celina, but have since closed. Companies such as Celina Aluminum Precision Technology—a Honda supplier—, Crown forklifts, and Reynolds and Reynolds are the largest manufacturing employers. Thieman Tailgates also calls Celina home. Wright State University's two-year Lake Campus is located in Celina. The city is also home to one of the largest Wal-Marts built in the continental United States.

Celina was founded in 1834 in a swampy, wooded area that had to be drained and cleared before it could be settled. What remained was a level town surrounded by rich farm fields. When one of the town's founding fathers was traveling through New York state to get the town plat lithographed, he came across the town of Salina situated on the edge of Onondaga Lake near Syracuse. Noting the similarity between Salina and the newly founded settlement in Ohio, he named the new town Celina. The spelling was changed to avoid confusion at the post office, or so the story goes.

Image:Celinaflag.gif

Flag of the city.

[edit] Geography

Celina is located at 40°33′5″N, 84°34′12″W (40.551459, -84.570057)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.5 km² (4.4 mi²). 11.4 km² (4.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.90%) is water.

Mercer County courthouse.

Grand Lake.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 10,303 people, 4,191 households, and 2,745 families residing in the city. The population density was 906.2/km² (2,346.9/mi²). There were 4,466 housing units at an average density of 392.8/km² (1,017.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.04% White, 0.18% African American, 0.37% Native American, 0.67% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.62% from other races, and 1.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.14% of the population.

There were 4,191 households out of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.3% were married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.5% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.2% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $36,057, and the median income for a family was $44,901. Males had a median income of $35,467 versus $22,008 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,200. About 8.1% of families and 11.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.7% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.

Celina is also home to the largest gathering of Amphicars (amphibious cars, reference www.amphicar.com) during their annual July Lake Festival. An estimated 40 to 60 of these 1960's era boat cars are huge attraction for area residents and visitors. Celina is also home to George Moore, a famous 3L at the University of Dayton School of Law. He and three other Celina natives formed the band Erastus, which has come to be known worldwide.