City name: Crestview
City size: 0.10 square miles
Population: 426
Median income: $77,714
Median home value: $136,785
Mayor: Shane Owens
Incorporated: 1950
Driving the streets of Crestview, Kentucky, it’s impossible not to notice an abundance of Cape Cod-style homes, built in the late 1940s as an answer to the post-war housing boom. Originating in New England in the 17th century, the Cape Cod-style house regained popularity in the 1940s and 50s as soldiers returned from World War II.
Not to be confused with Crestview Hills, the town of Crestview near Cold Spring only has 452 residents and sits on just 0.10 square miles.
The Vet Village Homes Builders founded the city in 1947; at the time, it was known as Vet Village.
The group’s idea was to buy enough land for 200 to 300 homes, according to a Kentucky Post story published on Jan. 29, 1947. The original streets were Circle, Skyview, Pinehill, Osage and Terrace. The town was officially incorporated in 1950 and renamed Crestview.
Today’s median home value for this type of house in the city is $136,785, with the median household income at $77,714.
Even Crestview’s city building is in the classic style.
Crestview Mayor Shane Owens has lived in the tiny town for about 17 years. Something notable about the city, he said, is how quiet it is.
“When we first moved here, we lived in Fort Thomas and River Road was literally in our backyard,” Owens said. “You just hear traffic all night long, ambulances going to the hospital, and then we moved here, and I couldn’t sleep for a couple of weeks because it was so quiet, and I was used to all that noise.”
The demographics of the city, Owens said, are mixed.
“A lot of younger people moving into their first homes and things like that, and we have a lot of older residents who have lived here for many years and just never moved,” Owens said. “So, it’s kind of a mixture of both.”
Jeannette Peters moved to Crestview in 1989 and has lived there for 32 years. She said she was attracted to the city because of the Cape Cod-style homes. Peters is originally from Fort Thomas and had never heard of the area before.
“I’ve lived in Campbell County all my life and didn’t even know this little city existed,” Peters said. “I was kind of shocked because I grew up in Fort Thomas right down the road, not that far away. And it was like, I’ve never even heard of that city.”
Though it’s small, Owens said there are events all throughout the year for residents to get together to enjoy each other.
On Easter, they do a city easter egg hunt, and during the Halloween Season, there are costume contests for three different age groups of kids.
They also have a city-wide block party on the Saturday after Labor Day.
“It’s grown; we have a stage now, so we have a band play,” Owens said. “We’ve had food trucks. It’s a good time for all the neighbors to meet new neighbors. We open it up to the public so anybody can come; it’s not just for the city of Crestview.
“We moved it up to the city building. We put the stage in the front yard, and we block off Circle Drive and Terrace, and then we just put all the tables and chairs in the street in that big intersection right there.”
Owens said his first block party after living in the city for about one to two years was when he got “suckered” into joining city council. He had just returned home from vacation and decided to take his kids to see what was happening.
“The mayor was grilling some hot dogs and a band was trying to get some electric and get working, and then there were a couple of tables,” Owens said. “It was me and probably a handful of other people there. That’s when C.J. [Peters], the previous mayor, got me to get on the city council. He said just come up to the meeting and check it out. So, I came up to the meeting, and before I knew it, I was sworn in.”
Owens said with the city being so small, you have to beg people to fill empty seats on the council.
Peters served five years as city commissioner then rejoined in July 2021 after she retired. She said times have changed dramatically, and no one wants to serve on the board anymore.
“I care about the city, and I guess that’s what it’s all about is caring,” Peters said. “And I care about the people that live here, you know, to make it a better place.”
With the challenge of filling leadership roles in the city, the question arises: Why be a city at all? When he first moved to Crestview, Owens said there was talk about the town joining Cold Spring.
To do this, the city council had to vote to pass the option down to the residents to vote on whether they wanted the city to be dissolved. The board voted no, and therefore the option never made it to residents to consider at the ballot box. Owens said the city council hasn’t brought up the idea since. If the city could not get enough people to serve on the committee, Owens said Crestview would be turned over to the state to run.
“So far, we’ve been chugging along,” Owens said.
