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is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. 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
campaign for the presidency. 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. Headlands Beach State Park will be home to the 2010 "Rock, skip, and a jump" contest. The triathlon of rock skipping contests.
Mentor is a diverse community with industry, commerce and residential components. A wide range of housing is represented, from condominiums and small ranches to half-million-dollar lakefront homes. Twelve city parks comprise over of parkland. 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 found along most major roads.
Befitting its large population, Mentor has one of the larger school systems in Ohio, with 10 elementary schools, three junior high 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 slogan is "It's better in Mentor," which almost rhymes because locals pronounce the city's name "men-ner", although in the media, "men-ter" is prominent.
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).
Mentor is located at (41.691245, -81.341955). It is a far eastern suburb Cleveland OH and is located on the south shore of Lake Erie .
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 28.1 square miles (72.7 km²), of which, 26.8 square miles (69.3 km²) of it is land and 1.3 square miles (3.4 km²) of it (4.67%) is water.