Lincoln Heights is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in Hamilton County,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

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. The population was 3,144 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

History

Lincoln Heights was founded in the 1920s by property developers as a suburban enclave for black homeowners working in nearby industries. It was originally an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

which had no fire, police, streetlights, or paved roads. At the time, only some houses had electricity. Many black families bought houses in the community because zoning laws and

redlining Redlining is a Discrimination, discriminatory practice in which financial services are withheld from neighborhoods that have significant numbers of Race (human categorization), racial and Ethnic group, ethnic minorities. Redlining has been mos ...

prevented them from purchasing property in other communities.

Incorporation attempts

The first attempt at incorporation came in 1939; the motive was so residents could establish their own municipal services. Lockland residents objected to the Lincoln Heights incorporation proposal because they feared Lincoln Heights' business district may compete with its own, so they filed an objection several minutes before the filing deadline occurred. This was the start of a series of delays. Kitty Morgan of ''

Cincinnati Magazine ''Cincinnati'' magazine is a monthly lifestyle magazine concerning life in and about Cincinnati, Ohio. It was created by the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce in 1967. It was then purchased by CM Media in 1981. By 1997, the magazine had a c ...

'' wrote that the Hamilton County and state governments were "unsympathetic" to the attempted incorporation. - CITED
11
/ref> The manager of the Wright Aeronautical Plant, located on land that Lincoln Heights residents wished to incorporate, also filed an objection because he did not want the factory to be in a majority black municipality. The communities of Woodlawn, and then Evendale incorporated even though Lincoln Heights' application kept being delayed. They respectively took the western and eastern portions of territory that was supposed to be in Lincoln Heights, the latter of which contained the aeronautical plant (now the

GE Aviation General Electric Company, doing business as GE Aerospace, is an American aircraft engine supplier that is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. It is the legal successor to the original General Electric Company founded in 1892, wh ...

Evendale plant). The persons trying to establish Lincoln Heights failed to successfully challenge the Evendale incorporation in court. Voters narrowly approved the incorporation of Lincoln Heights in a special election on June 18, 1941. At the time, African Americans made up 98% of the community's residents. In 1946, Hamilton County allowed Lincoln Heights to incorporate with 10% of the original proposal's area. It had no industrial tax base since there were no major factories or plants within the city limits. A

University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

professor of urban and regional planning who wrote a dissertation on Lincoln Heights, Henry Louis Taylor, stated that this made Lincoln Heights vulnerable to future economic problems.

Subsequent history

Morgan wrote that the " halcyon days" of Lincoln Heights were the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

period through the 1960s. - CITED
8
/ref> At that time of incorporation it was the only black municipality north of the Mason-Dixon line, prompting

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ...

Thomas E. Dewey to establish a tour of Lincoln Heights, inviting New York City residents to participate. In the mid-20th century many Lincoln Heights residents worked at the Wright Aeronautical Plant and a nearby chemical plant. In the 1970s Lincoln Heights had 6,099 residents. In the 1970s and 1980s many factories began to close, and the tax base of the city decreased, making it difficult to establish community programs. It became difficult for residents find employment, and many residents who attended universities never returned to the city. By 1990 the number of residents in Lincoln Heights had decreased to 4,805. This further declined to 4,113 persons in 2000. In 2000 ''

'' ranked Lincoln Heights in last place, #84, in its "The Best Places to Live," a ranking of communities in the Cincinnati area. - CITED
810
As of 2001 the community still included many longtime residents;Vela, Susan.

. ''

Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, altho ...

''. June 30, 2001. Retrieved on July 15, 2015. many persons who stayed in the city had been unable to leave Lincoln Heights. That year the Lincoln Heights economic development director, Claude Audley, stated that he received telephone calls from people expressing a wish to move back to Lincoln Heights. From 2007 to 2013 the values of houses in Lincoln Heights declined by 76.4%. During the same period the housing values in nearby Indian Hill increased by 27.7%. In 2013 the population was down to 3,367. From 1970 to 2013, therefore, the population had declined by 45%. The population in nearby Blue Ash had increased by 46% during that time frame.

2025 neo-Nazi demonstrations

In February 2025, about a dozen

neo-Nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), to att ...

waving flags with

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

s, some also armed, gathered at a highway overpass on the border between Lincoln Heights and

Evendale, Ohio Evendale (pronounced ) is a village in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, within the Cincinnati metropolitan area. The population was 2,669 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a tota ...

. The group pinned swastika banners and a sign that read "America is for the White Man" on the overpass, and at one point yelled out the n-word towards a passing white driver who filmed them. Local residents of the mostly-black Lincoln Heights confronted the neo-Nazi group and within minutes the latter fled in a

U-Haul U-Haul Holding Company is an American moving truck, trailer, and self-storage rental company (law), company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, that has been in operation since 1945. The company was founded by Leonard Shoen and Anna Mary Carty in Ridgef ...

truck while local police stood between them and members of the community. Residents reported that the neo-Nazis used anti-black racial slurs and criticized police for not preventing the incident and not tracking or detaining the instigators, perceiving bias in police treatment and protection of the neo-Nazis. Cincinnati Mayor

Aftab Pureval Aftab Karma Singh Pureval (born September 9, 1982) is an American attorney and politician serving as the 70th List of mayors of Cincinnati, mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, since January 4, 2022. On January 14, 2021, he declared his candidacy for the 2 ...

released a statement condemning the incident and said it was "shocking and disgusting to see swastikas displayed in Evendale today." In the following days, counterdemonstrations and vigils were held, with hundreds of locals participating. Some residents also formed armed patrols of the neighborhood.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the village has a total area of , all land. As of 2002 there were 19 churches within Lincoln Heights.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, there were 3,144 people living in the village, for a population density of 4,231.49 people per square mile (1,633.46/km²). There were 1,456 housing units. The racial makeup of the village was 3.4%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 89.8%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.1% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.5% from some other race, and 4.9% from two or more races. 3.0% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 1,278 households, out of which 43.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 9.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 12.7% had a male householder with no spouse present, and 69.0% had a female householder with no spouse present. 35.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.3% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48, and the average family size was 3.20. 40.4% of the village's population were under the age of 18, 46.6% were 18 to 64, and 13.0% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 28.7. For every 100 females, there were 102.0 males. According to the U.S. Census

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

, for the period 2016-2020 the estimated median annual income for a household in the village was $12,183. About 64.4% of the population were living below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 91.2% of those under age 18 and 38.6% of those age 65 or over. About 35.9% of the population were employed, and 12.0% had a bachelor's degree or higher.

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 3,286 people, 1,287 households, and 803 families residing in the village. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 1,564 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 1.7%

, 95.5%

, 0.3% Native American, 0.2%

, 0.3% from other races, and 2.0% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.5% of the population. There were 1,287 households, of which 36.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 17.0% were

living together, 39.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.6% were non-families. 34.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.30. The median age in the village was 31.9 years. 30.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 11.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 20.2% were from 25 to 44; 25% were from 45 to 64; and 12.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 43.3% male and 56.7% female. As of 2015 the percentage of African-Americans in Lincoln Heights is among the highest in Ohio. As of the same time nearby Blue Ash has more than twice the median income of Lincoln Heights.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 4,113 people, 1,593 households, and 1,062 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 1,762 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 97.86%

, 0.95%

, 0.10% Native American, 0.02% Asian, 0.02%

, 0.17% from other races, and 0.88% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.85% of the population. There were 1,593 households, out of which 35.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 21.6% were

living together, 40.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.21. In the village, the population was spread out, with 34.2% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 74.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.3 males. The median income for a household in the village was $19,834, and the median income for a family was $22,500. Males had a median income of $24,050 versus $21,858 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the village was $12,121. About 26.6% of families and 29.9% of the population were below the

, including 42.0% of those under age 18 and 16.8% of those age 65 or over. As of 2000 it was the Ohio municipality with the highest percentage of black residents. As of 2002 40% of the town residents rented their residences.

Government and infrastructure

The village maintains its own fire department. As of 2015 the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office provides police services, patrolling Lincoln Heights with eight officers. The village pays $773,000 annually for this coverage.Alter, Maxim and Bryce Anslinger.
Hamilton County deputies officially replace Lincoln Heights police after 'corruption' claims

Archive
. ''

WCPO WCPO-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based E. W. Scripps Company, which has owned the station since its inception. WCPO-TV's ...

''. January 26, 2015. Retrieved on July 15, 2015. Previously the village operated its own police department. The department, as of 2014, had eight full-time police officers, seven part-time officers, and four auxiliary officers, or citizens who work one day per week to provide support for police officers. That year, the police department's annual budget was $864,000.Marotti, Ally.
Violence vexes Lincoln Heights; police patrols boosted

Archive
. ''

The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, altho ...

''. June 11, 2014. Retrieved on July 15, 2015.

Crime

Illegal drug The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. An area has a prohibition of drugs when its government uses the for ...

distribution activity occurred in Lincoln Heights in the 2000s, and the 2010s. In 2014 Lincoln Heights Chief of Police Conroy Chance stated that the most common illegal drugs were

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be Smoking, smoked. Crack offers a short, intense Euphoria (emotion), high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Sub ...

and

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

prior to 2012, but the preferred drugs shifted to

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

that year. In 2010 Quan Truong and Jennifer Baker of ''

'' stated that Lincoln Heights had a history of violent crime, one that "plagues" Lincoln Heights.Truong, Quan and Jennifer Baker.
Gunmen attack officer in Lincoln Heights

Archive
. ''

'' (cincinnati.com). September 16, 2010. Retrieved on July 15, 2015. Circa the 2010s typically Lincoln Heights experienced about one or two shootings each year. In 1993 and 2001 there were incidents of Lincoln Heights police cars being set on fire. A man broke into the Lincoln Heights police station on fire in 1998, causing about $100,000 in damages. Persons shot the windows of the village hall and shot at police cars during the same evening. In June 2001 authorities accused 33-year-old Stan Fitzpatrick of murdering community activist Elton "Arybie" Rose after killing Fitzpatrick's girlfriend and the girlfriend's daughter. In the summer of 2010 a man fired bullets at Sharonville police officer who was chasing two suspects while in Lincoln Heights. In September 2010 men with semiautomatic weapons shot at a Woodlawn police car. In 2012 there were four shootings, with one of them being a homicide, and in 2013 there were nine shootings, with four of them being homicides. In May 2014 a joint task force made up of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the county sheriff's department, the

Cincinnati Police Department The Cincinnati Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency of Cincinnati, Ohio. The department has 1,053 sworn police officer, officers and 119 non-sworn employees. History When Cincinnati incorporated as a village in 1802, a ...

, and the Woodlawn Police Department was established to reduce violence stemming from illegal drug issues. In 2014, Chance stated that due to the nature of crime in Lincoln Heights, "we police the way that big city polices." Since then the Lincoln Heights police department had been disbanded.

Education

Residents are a part of Princeton City Schools, which operates Lincoln Heights Elementary School. For secondary school residents attend Community Middle School and Princeton High School. The current Lincoln Heights Elementary building, with a capacity of 440 students, opened in 2006 as part of an $85 million school bond program. In 2012 the school district considered closing the school due to issues with its budget, but the school remained open after a

tax levy A tax levy under United States federal law is an administrative action by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under statutory authority, generally without going to court, to seize property to satisfy a tax liability. The levy "includes the power ...

was passed. Due to violence occurring outside of the school, it was held in an all-day

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

from May 14 to June 2, 2014. The school district stated that this was due to concern over the safety of the students.Wiechert, Brian.
Lincoln Heights Elementary School placed on lockdown for remainder of school year

Archive
. Fox 19. May 16, 2014. Retrieved on July 15, 2015. As of 2014, there were fewer than 200 students at Lincoln Heights Elementary, while 40 other elementary-aged children who live in Lincoln Heights attend other schools in the Princeton school district.

Notable people

Nikki Giovanni Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024) was an American poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator. One of the world's best-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recor ...

, poet * Darryl Hardy, football player * Maurice Harvey, football player *

The Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American soul group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of the brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decades, ...

, songwriters * Yvette Simpson,

city council member * Carl Westmoreland,

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is a museum in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, based on the history of the Underground Railroad. Opened in 2004, the center also pays tribute to all efforts to "abolish human enslavement and secure fr ...

manager and scholar * Tony Yates, basketball player and coach

References

External links

Village website

Finding Aid for Lincoln Heights Community Facilities records
Archives and Rare Books Library, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio {{Authority control Neo-Nazism in the United States Villages in Hamilton County, Ohio 1920s establishments in Ohio Villages in Ohio