Mariemont was envisioned by its founder, Mary Muhlenberg Emery, as a “National Exemplar” in practical town planning.  Mrs. Emery was convinced, far ahead of her time, that congestion and poor housing were due to bad city planning, and that this problem could not be corrected easily without rebuilding an entire neighborhood.  It could be changed, she felt, by constructing a community and its housing according to principles of town planning.  Mariemont, named for Mrs. Emery’s summer home in Rhode Island, was to illustrate the best architectural, engineering, and environmental concerns possible for this type of development.

Acquisition of property began in 1913, and the first spadeful of earth for Mariemont was turned by Mrs. Emery on April 23, 1923.  Twenty-five of the country’s leading architects were employed, working with the plan developed by John Nolen, the eminent town planner retained by the Mariemont Company to design and build this community on the 420 acres of gently rolling farmland.  The first buildings were completed in 1924-25.

Management of the Village was conducted by the Mariemont Company, wholly owned by Mrs. Emery, until 1931, when it dissolved and passed its control to The Thomas J. Emery Memorial, a foundation formed by Mrs. Emery to carry on philanthropic works.  The Village was incorporated under Ohio law in 1941.  Mariemont officials are selected by the Town Meeting organization and Mariemont has the only elected Town Crier in the U.S. 

Mariemont was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, July 24, 1979, in recognition of its unique history in our nation’s cultural and natural heritage worthy of preservation.

heritage worthy of preservation.