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Home | Settlement M | Mentor, Ohio
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Mentor is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. Mentor was first settled in 1797. The population was 50,278 at the 2000 census. In July 2006, CNNMoney.com ranked Mentor 68th in a list of the Top 100 Best Places to Live in America. In 1876 James A. Garfield purchased a home in Mentor, from which he conducted the first successful front porch campaign for the presidency. A little known fact is that 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. Mentor is a diverse community with industry. Many bike paths have been built in recent years. The city is a major center of retail stores and restaurants in the Greater Cleveland area. 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. Befitting its large population, Mentor has one of the larger school systems in Ohio, with 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 - one of the fastest Ohio school systems ever to emerge from fiscal emergency. 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. The pronunciation of the city's name is something of a shibboleth, with most residents pronouncing it as "men-ner" and outsiders using the more conventional "men-tore", while in the media, "men-ter" is prominent. 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). |
