Mason, Ohio
Encyclopedia
Mason is an affluent city in southwestern Warren County
, Ohio
, United States
, 22 miles away from Cincinnati (296,943). As of the 2010 census, Mason's population was 30,712. Mason has experienced fast growth, with its historic Main Street remaining at the center of the community. Mason went from being a sleepy farm town of less than 5,000 residents in the 1960's to a large bustling community of Cincinnati commuters in the 1990's. Much of that growth came when Kings Island opened in 1972, and another growth spurt took place when Procter & Gamble built a large business center. Mason is home to Kings Island
, and one of the largest tennis stadiums in the world.
In 1835, a petition was sent to the federal post office to correct the name of the town. It had been listed as Kirkwood, possibly an error because the postmaster at the time was William Kirkwood. When village officials were informed that there was another Palmyra in Ohio, the name was officially changed to "Mason." Mason remained a small farming community for another 125 years. In 1970, a year before the town was incorporated to become a city, there were fewer than 5,700 residents.
Famous Mason residents have included: Actor George Clooney, who attended Mason's Western Row Elementary School as well as St. Susanna Catholic School as a youth; Dan Patrick (Mason class of 1974 - formerly Dan Pugh), national radio host, NBC Sports host, Sports Illustrated columnist, and former ESPN anchor; Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Tom Seaver; Noel Khan, from the TV Show Pretty Little Liars, and World Golf Hall of Fame member Nancy Lopez.
of 2000, there were 22,016 people, 7,789 households, and 5,981 families residing in the city. The population density
was 1,250.0 people per square mile (482.7/km²). There were 8,111 housing units at an average density of 460.5 per square mile (177.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.79% White, 1.61% African American, 0.19% Native American, 2.18% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.30% from other races
, and 0.93% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.97% of the population.
There are 7,789 households 45.2% of which have children under the age of 18, 67.5% have married couples
living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.2% were non-families. 20.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 persons and the average family size was 3.27 persons.
In the city the population was spread out with 32.1% under the age of 18, 5.1% between 18 to 24, 35.3% between 25 to 44, 19.1% between 45 to 64, and 8.4% over the age of 65. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $89,569, and the median income for a family was $103,459 . Males had a median income of $96,002 and females had a median income of $75,968. The per capita income
for the city was $37,948. The median house price was $320,289. About 1.6% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.8% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.
, Lebanon
, and Maineville
post offices.
According to CNN Money the City of Mason is one of the top 100 places to live in the United States.
It is served by two interstates, I-71 and I-75.
amusement park, The Beach
Waterpark, Great Wolf Lodge Hotel/Indoor Waterpark
, Procter & Gamble
's Mason Business Center, the headquarters of Luxottica Retail
, Cintas
corporate headquarters, and the Lindner Family Tennis Center
, home of the historic Cincinnati Masters
tennis tournament all fuel Mason's economic base and help the city's population with jobs. Mitsubishi Electric
, L-3 Communications
and Heinz
have operations in Mason.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 17.6 square miles (45.6 km²), of which, 17.6 square miles (45.6 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1035995244 km²) of it (0.23%) is water.
media market. Although no broadcast stations are licensed to Mason itself, the city is home to the transmitter site of Clear Channel Communications
' WLW
(700 Cincinnati), which uses one of only seven remaining Blaw-Knox
diamond-shaped towers. WLW was once (1934–1939) the most powerful broadcast station in the country at 500 kilowatts.
Its hometown newspaper is The Cincinnati Enquirer, MasonBuzz.com and The Pulse-Journal.
The Mason City School Board members in 2010 are Debbie Delp (President), Kevin Wise (Vice President), Marianne Culbertson, Connie Yingling, and John Odell. The city's property taxes are above surrounding area averages and are the school district's major source of funding.
The Mason City School district has received many Ohio Blue Ribbons for Excellence. The class of 2006 was exceptional in that it graduated four students who will attend Ivy League universities, and 14 students who were national merit scholars or commended merit scholars. The class of 2007 had 20 members who were national merit scholars or commended merit scholars.
High school programs in both athletics and academics are also successful at the state level. The Girls' basketball team was the Division I (large school) State Champion in 2000; the girls track team was State Champion in 2004; the boys cross country team was State Champion in 2008; the girls golf team won back-to-back state championships in 2008 and 2009; the debate team placed first in 2005; and the Mock Trial Team was state runner-up in 2006.
The district joined the Greater Miami Conference (GMC), the public school league with the largest enrollments in Greater Cincinnati, in 2007-08, and has won the All Sports Trophy each of its first three years in the 10-team league which includes Colerain, Lakota East, Lakota West, Middletown, Hamilton, Fairfield, Princeton, Oak Hills, and Sycamore.
The William Mason High School
Wind Symphony was invited in 2004 to perform at the Midwest Clinic
in Chicago
, recognized as the most prestigious high school concert band
performance in the world. Mason High School is also home to the United States' first competitive junior broomball
league, according to broomball.com.
Famous people who have attended Mason schools include actor George Clooney, who attended Western Row Elementary School and also St. Susanna Catholic School in junior high; national radio host Dan Patrick
(Mason class of 1974); and Pretty Little Liars
Brant Daugherty
famous for his role as Noel Kahn.
Mason has 6 public schools: Mason Early Childhood Center (PK - 1), Mason Heights, Western Row(grades 2-3), Mason Intermediate(grades 4-6), Mason Middle School( grades 7-8), and Mason High School. Mason also has a community center that connected to the high school. The last building to open was the Mason Early Childhood ("MECC") which opened in 2006. Mason City Schools has one of the fastest school networks in Ohio operating over 1,700 times faster than the standard home Internet connection while supporting over 4,600 classroom computers. There are approximately 4.2 students per computer in the district. The district also supports individual teacher pages for posting of work assignments and other class information (such as Edline and Mason Comets). Parents have secure web access to student grades, transportation information, lunch account balances, and more.
The most recent building project was in 2008-09 with an addition to the high school, which was built in 2001. The addition included an additional 3-story pod that added 3 computer labs, over 30 new classrooms, a new lunchroom, and new athletic and choral offices.
Warren County, Ohio
Warren County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. The population was 212,693 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Lebanon. Warren County was erected May 1, 1803, from Hamilton County, and named for Dr...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, 22 miles away from Cincinnati (296,943). As of the 2010 census, Mason's population was 30,712. Mason has experienced fast growth, with its historic Main Street remaining at the center of the community. Mason went from being a sleepy farm town of less than 5,000 residents in the 1960's to a large bustling community of Cincinnati commuters in the 1990's. Much of that growth came when Kings Island opened in 1972, and another growth spurt took place when Procter & Gamble built a large business center. Mason is home to Kings Island
Kings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Opened in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting Company and now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Kings Island is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S...
, and one of the largest tennis stadiums in the world.
History
On June 1, 1803, Revolutionary War veteran William Mason paid $1,700 at auction to purchase 640 acres (2.6 km²) of land in what is now downtown Mason. In 1815, he platted 16 lots on this land and named the village "Palmira." In 1832, 2 years after the death of William Mason and according to his will, over 40 more lots were platted on the north, south, and west of Palmira. When the plat was officially recorded, the name of the village was listed as "Palmyra."In 1835, a petition was sent to the federal post office to correct the name of the town. It had been listed as Kirkwood, possibly an error because the postmaster at the time was William Kirkwood. When village officials were informed that there was another Palmyra in Ohio, the name was officially changed to "Mason." Mason remained a small farming community for another 125 years. In 1970, a year before the town was incorporated to become a city, there were fewer than 5,700 residents.
Famous Mason residents have included: Actor George Clooney, who attended Mason's Western Row Elementary School as well as St. Susanna Catholic School as a youth; Dan Patrick (Mason class of 1974 - formerly Dan Pugh), national radio host, NBC Sports host, Sports Illustrated columnist, and former ESPN anchor; Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Tom Seaver; Noel Khan, from the TV Show Pretty Little Liars, and World Golf Hall of Fame member Nancy Lopez.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 22,016 people, 7,789 households, and 5,981 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,250.0 people per square mile (482.7/km²). There were 8,111 housing units at an average density of 460.5 per square mile (177.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.79% White, 1.61% African American, 0.19% Native American, 2.18% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.30% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 0.93% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.97% of the population.
There are 7,789 households 45.2% of which have children under the age of 18, 67.5% have married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.2% were non-families. 20.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 persons and the average family size was 3.27 persons.
In the city the population was spread out with 32.1% under the age of 18, 5.1% between 18 to 24, 35.3% between 25 to 44, 19.1% between 45 to 64, and 8.4% over the age of 65. The median age is 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $89,569, and the median income for a family was $103,459 . Males had a median income of $96,002 and females had a median income of $75,968. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $37,948. The median house price was $320,289. About 1.6% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.8% of those under age 18 and 4.8% of those age 65 or over.
Historical population figures
The city is in the Mason City, Kings Local, and Lebanon City School Districts. The entire city is in the Mason telephone exchange. Mail is provided through the Mason, Kings MillsKings Mills, Ohio
Kings Mills is an unincorporated community in the northeastern corner of Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio, United States, on the western shore of the Little Miami River...
, Lebanon
Lebanon, Ohio
The population at the 2010 census was 20,033. As of the census of 2000, there were 16,962 people residing in the city. The population density was 1,440.6 people per square mile . There were 6,218 housing units at an average density of 528.1 per square mile...
, and Maineville
Maineville, Ohio
Maineville is a village in Warren County, Ohio, United States, with a population of 372 families in 2000. It is called Maineville as the original settlers were from the state of Maine.-Geography:Maineville is located at ....
post offices.
According to CNN Money the City of Mason is one of the top 100 places to live in the United States.
It is served by two interstates, I-71 and I-75.
Economy
Kings IslandKings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. Opened in 1972 by Taft Broadcasting Company and now owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Kings Island is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S...
amusement park, The Beach
The Beach Water Park
The Beach Waterpark is a water park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. In addition to water rides, the tropical-themed water park offers other amenities including sand volleyball courts, basketball courts, pool-side beverage service, and a night club for teens called Club Aqua Splash...
Waterpark, Great Wolf Lodge Hotel/Indoor Waterpark
Indoor waterpark
An indoor waterpark is a type of waterpark that is located inside a building. An indoor waterpark has the ability to stay open year-round, as it is not affected by weather conditions.-History:...
, Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
's Mason Business Center, the headquarters of Luxottica Retail
Luxottica
Luxottica Group S.p.A. is the world's largest eyewear company. Its best known brands include Ray-Ban, Persol and Oakley, Inc.. It also makes sunglasses and prescription frames for a multitude of designer brands such as Chanel and Prada, whose designs and trademarks are used under license...
, Cintas
Cintas
Cintas Corporation , based in Mason, Ohio, is a publicly traded company that operates more than 400 facilities throughout North America. The company provides specialized services to businesses, including the design and manufacturing of corporate identity uniform programs, entrance mats, restroom...
corporate headquarters, and the Lindner Family Tennis Center
Lindner Family Tennis Center
The Lindner Family Tennis Center, in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, is the home for the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters & Women's Open. The tournaments are run by the United States Tennis Association and the Tennis Center is owned by Tennis for Charity, Inc...
, home of the historic Cincinnati Masters
Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Open is an annual outdoor hardcourts tennis event held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, USA. The event started on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city., Between...
tennis tournament all fuel Mason's economic base and help the city's population with jobs. Mitsubishi Electric
Mitsubishi Electric
is a multinational electronics and information technology company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group....
, L-3 Communications
L-3 Communications
L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. is a company that supplies command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training devices and services, instrumentation, space, and navigation products. Its customers include...
and Heinz
H. J. Heinz Company
The H. J. Heinz Company , commonly known as Heinz and famous for its "57 Varieties" slogan and its ketchup, is an American food company with world headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Perhaps best known for its ketchup, the H.J...
have operations in Mason.
Geography
Mason is located at 39°21′29"N 84°18′43"W (39.358009, -84.311822).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 17.6 square miles (45.6 km²), of which, 17.6 square miles (45.6 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1035995244 km²) of it (0.23%) is water.
Climate
Media
Mason is part of the CincinnatiCincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
media market. Although no broadcast stations are licensed to Mason itself, the city is home to the transmitter site of Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
' WLW
WLW
WLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...
(700 Cincinnati), which uses one of only seven remaining Blaw-Knox
Blaw-Knox Tower
The Blaw-Knox company was a manufacturer of steel structures and construction equipment based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company is today best known for its radio towers, most of which were constructed during the 1930s in the United States...
diamond-shaped towers. WLW was once (1934–1939) the most powerful broadcast station in the country at 500 kilowatts.
Education
Mason City Schools have been ranked among the top in the nation's school systems. Mason is rated as the top school district in the state, with a perfect rating of 30 out of 30 indicators on the Ohio Report Card for the past twelve years.The Mason City School Board members in 2010 are Debbie Delp (President), Kevin Wise (Vice President), Marianne Culbertson, Connie Yingling, and John Odell. The city's property taxes are above surrounding area averages and are the school district's major source of funding.
The Mason City School district has received many Ohio Blue Ribbons for Excellence. The class of 2006 was exceptional in that it graduated four students who will attend Ivy League universities, and 14 students who were national merit scholars or commended merit scholars. The class of 2007 had 20 members who were national merit scholars or commended merit scholars.
High school programs in both athletics and academics are also successful at the state level. The Girls' basketball team was the Division I (large school) State Champion in 2000; the girls track team was State Champion in 2004; the boys cross country team was State Champion in 2008; the girls golf team won back-to-back state championships in 2008 and 2009; the debate team placed first in 2005; and the Mock Trial Team was state runner-up in 2006.
The district joined the Greater Miami Conference (GMC), the public school league with the largest enrollments in Greater Cincinnati, in 2007-08, and has won the All Sports Trophy each of its first three years in the 10-team league which includes Colerain, Lakota East, Lakota West, Middletown, Hamilton, Fairfield, Princeton, Oak Hills, and Sycamore.
The William Mason High School
William Mason High School (Mason, Ohio)
William Mason High School, also known as Mason High School, is a four-year public high school located in the in Mason, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio...
Wind Symphony was invited in 2004 to perform at the Midwest Clinic
The Midwest Clinic
The Midwest Clinic is the world's largest instrumental music education conference, annually drawing approximately 15,000 attendees to Chicago from all 50 states and as many as forty countries. It is held every December in downtown Chicago...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, recognized as the most prestigious high school concert band
Concert band
A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...
performance in the world. Mason High School is also home to the United States' first competitive junior broomball
Broomball
Broomball is a recreational ice game originating in Canada and played around the world. It is played in a hockey rink, either indoors or outdoors, depending on climate and location. Broomball is popular in the Canadian province of Manitoba, where Glenella is the Broomball Capital of the World...
league, according to broomball.com.
Famous people who have attended Mason schools include actor George Clooney, who attended Western Row Elementary School and also St. Susanna Catholic School in junior high; national radio host Dan Patrick
Dan Patrick
Daniel Patrick Pugh , professionally known as Dan Patrick, is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and actor from Mason, Ohio...
(Mason class of 1974); and Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars is a series of more than 10 young adult novels by Sara Shepard, from 1981–present, which have been made into a television show . The series follows the lives of four girls — Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily — whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader,...
Brant Daugherty
Brant Daugherty
Brant Daugherty , is an American actor.He is best known for his role as Noel Kahn on the series Pretty Little Liars. He has also acted for some minor roles in television series and has written a book....
famous for his role as Noel Kahn.
Mason has 6 public schools: Mason Early Childhood Center (PK - 1), Mason Heights, Western Row(grades 2-3), Mason Intermediate(grades 4-6), Mason Middle School( grades 7-8), and Mason High School. Mason also has a community center that connected to the high school. The last building to open was the Mason Early Childhood ("MECC") which opened in 2006. Mason City Schools has one of the fastest school networks in Ohio operating over 1,700 times faster than the standard home Internet connection while supporting over 4,600 classroom computers. There are approximately 4.2 students per computer in the district. The district also supports individual teacher pages for posting of work assignments and other class information (such as Edline and Mason Comets). Parents have secure web access to student grades, transportation information, lunch account balances, and more.
The most recent building project was in 2008-09 with an addition to the high school, which was built in 2001. The addition included an additional 3-story pod that added 3 computer labs, over 30 new classrooms, a new lunchroom, and new athletic and choral offices.
Further reading
- Elva R. Adams. Warren County Revisited. [Lebanon, Ohio]: Warren County Historical Society, 1989.
- The Centennial Atlas of Warren County, Ohio. Lebanon, Ohio: The Centennial Atlas Association, 1903.
- John W. Hauck. Narrow Gauge in Ohio. Boulder, ColoradoBoulder, ColoradoBoulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
: Pruett Publishing, 1986. ISBN 0-87108-629-8 - Josiah Morrow. The History of Warren County, Ohio. Chicago: W.H. Beers, 1883. (Reprinted several times)
- Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer. 6th ed. Yarmouth, MaineYarmouth, MaineYarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, located approximately ten to fifteen miles north of Portland. Its population was 8,349 at the 2010 census....
: DeLorme, 2001. ISBN 0-89933-281-1 - William E. Smith. History of Southwestern Ohio: The Miami Valleys. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1964. 3 vols.
- Rose Marie Springman. Around Mason, Ohio: A Story. [Mason, Ohio?]: The Author, 1982.
- State of Ohio Mock Trial Organization. http://www.oclre.org
- Warren County Engineer's Office. Official Highway Map 2003. Lebanon, Ohio: The Office, 2003.
External links
- http://www.imaginemason.org/home.php?ID=473
- http://www.imaginemason.org/home.php?ID=55