Mentor, Ohio

Mentor, Ohio
—  City  —
Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light, Mentor, Ohio viewed from the Mentor Headlands Beach State Park
Motto: It's Better in Mentor
Location of Mentor, Ohio
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Ohio
County Lake
Area
 • Total 28.1 sq mi (72.7 km2)
 • Land 26.8 sq mi (69.3 km2)
 • Water 1.3 sq mi (3.4 km2)
Elevation[1] 692 ft (211 m)
Population (2010)
 • Total 47,159
 • Density 1,759.7/sq mi (680.5/km2)
Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes 44060-44061
Area code(s) 440
FIPS code 39-49056[2]
GNIS feature ID 1085475[1]
Website http://www.cityofmentor.com/

Mentor is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. Mentor was first settled in 1797. The population was 47,159 at the 2010 census. In July 2006, CNNMoney.com ranked Mentor 68th in a list of the Top 100 Best Places to Live in America. Just four years later in July 2010, CNNMoney.com ranked Mentor 37th on the same list.

In 1876 James A. Garfield purchased a home in Mentor, from which he conducted the first successful front porch campaign for the presidency. Garfield coined the term 'Mentorite' when referring to a native of Mentor. That home is now maintained as the James A. Garfield National Historic Site. The city is home to Headlands Beach State Park, the longest natural beach on Lake Erie.

The city is a major center of retail stores and restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area, seventh-largest in Ohio as of 2010.[3] US 20 (Mentor Avenue) is the major retail center, which includes the Great Lakes Mall, with additional shopping and strip malls found along most major roads. Convenient Food Mart is based in Mentor.

Mentor's school system consists of 10 elementary schools, three middle schools, and Mentor High School. Like many school systems in Ohio, Mentor Schools suffered a financial crisis in the early 2000s, but passed a large levy and is now largely on solid footing[4] - one of the fastest Ohio school systems ever to emerge from fiscal emergency. The financial difficulties were due in part to years of accounting fraud.[5]

City government is based on a city manager executive appointed by city council. The city encourages development of light industry, which is reflected in its diverse economy and very low property taxes. The city discourages heavy industry, due to the pollution and general malaise that this type of industry can cause.

Many bike paths have been built in Mentor in recent years.[6]

The pronunciation of the city's name is a shibboleth, with a few residents pronouncing it as "men-ner" and outsiders using the more conventional "men-tore", while in the media and among most residents, "men-ter" is prominent.[7][8] The city's slogan, "It's better in Mentor," reflects this fact.

Mentor is named after the Greek figure Mentor, in keeping with the Connecticut Western Reserve settlers' tradition, as well as that of most other Americans at the time, of celebrating aspects of Greek classicism (nearby Solon, Macedonia, Euclid, and Akron also were named using that principle).[9]

Contents

Geography

Mentor is a far eastern suburb of Cleveland and is located on the south shore of Lake Erie.

The Mentor Headlands area of Mentor, located in the northeast portion of the city,[10] was settled in 1796 by Connecticut Land Company surveyors.[11]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 28.1 square miles (73 km2), of which 26.8 square miles (69 km2) is land and 1.3 square miles (3.4 km2) (4.67%) is water.

Demographics

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1870 410
1880 540 31.7%
1890 502 −7.0%
1900 624 24.3%
1910 732 17.3%
1920 851 16.3%
1930 1,589 86.7%
1940 1,827 15.0%
1950 2,383 30.4%
1960 4,354 82.7%
1970 36,912 747.8%
1980 41,903 13.5%
1990 47,358 13.0%
2000 50,278 6.2%
2010 47,159 −6.2%

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 50,278 people, 18,797 households, and 14,229 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,878.2 people per square mile (725.2/km²). There were 19,301 housing units at an average density of 721.0 per square mile (278.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.30% Caucasian, 0.64% African American, 0.05% Native American, 1.19% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.18% from other races, and 0.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.72% of the population. 19.8% were of German, 15.1% Italian, 13.1% Irish, 8.8% English, 6.5% Polish, 5.5% Slovene and 5.4% American ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 18,797 households out of which 35.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.6% were married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.3% were non-families. 20.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.9% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $57,230, and the median income for a family was $65,322. Males had a median income of $44,021 versus $31,025 for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,592. About 1.8% of families and 2.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.8% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.

Notable natives

Schools

Mentor Public Schools Elementary Schools:

Middle Schools:

Special Needs Schools:

High Schools:

Lake Catholic High School
Mentor Christian School (K-12)
St.Marys Mentor (K-8)
Mentor Heritage Christian Academy (K-12)

Churches

Assemblies of God:

Baptist:

Catholic:

Jewish:

Lutheran:

Methodist:

Non-Denominational

References

  1. ^ a b "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  2. ^ a b "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  3. ^ Scott, Betsy (2010-11-24). "Mentor modifying pace of traffic lights to ease holiday shopping congestion". The News-Herald (Ohio). http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2010/11/24/news/doc4ced32a74a90b154268560.txt. Retrieved 2010-11-24. 
  4. ^ Scott, Mark (2005-02-04). "Release by state bittersweet". Lake County News-Herald. http://www.news-herald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13889695&BRD=1698&PAG=461. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  5. ^ News Herald, July 25, 2004
  6. ^ History: Mentor History Timeline. The City of Mentor website.
  7. ^ A Pronunciation Guide to places in Ohio (E.W.Scripps School of Journalism)
  8. ^ Feran, Tom (2004-02-06). "If men are on lake, they aren’t from here". The Plain Dealer. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=NewsBank&p_text_direct-0=document_id=(%2010094DBA7898DD3A%20)&p_docid=10094DBA7898DD3A&p_theme=aggregated4&p_queryname=10094DBA7898DD3A&f_openurl=yes&p_nbid=P62T51NFMTE5NjI4OTE4My4xOTUzMzI6MToxMjoxOTguMzAuMjI4LjA&&p_multi=CPDB. Retrieved 2009-08-18. 
  9. ^ History. The City of Mentor website.
  10. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Mentor Headlands
  11. ^ Podolak, Janet (2011-07-24). "Largely Impenetrable Mentor Marsh is Lake County's Own Natural Wonder". The News-Herald. http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2011/07/24/news/nh4276120.txt. Retrieved 2011-07-26. 
  12. ^ Meszoros, Mark (2003-05-19). "Mentor Native Gets Her Bachelor". The News-Herald. http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2003/05/19/top%20stories/8053802.txt. Retrieved 2011-09-15. 
  13. ^ Wrestler Profiles: Blackhammer. Online World of Wrestling.

Further reading

External links