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

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.

[6] Kitty Morgan of Cincinnati Magazine wrote that the Hamilton County and state governments were "unsympathetic" to the attempted incorporation.

[7] 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.

The persons trying to establish Lincoln Heights failed to successfully challenge the Evendale incorporation in court.

[6] Voters narrowly approved the incorporation of Lincoln Heights in a special election on June 18, 1941.

[8] In 1946, Hamilton County allowed Lincoln Heights to incorporate with 10% of the original proposal's area.

A University of Buffalo 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.

[7] Morgan wrote that the "halcyon days" of Lincoln Heights were the post-World War II period through the 1960s.

[9] At that time of incorporation it was the only black municipality north of the Mason-Dixon line, prompting Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey to establish a tour of Lincoln Heights, inviting New York City residents to participate.

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.

[10] As of 2001 the community still included many longtime residents;[11] many persons who stayed in the city had been unable to leave Lincoln Heights.

[6] According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 0.76 square miles (1.97 km2), all land.

[14] According to the U.S. Census American Community Survey, for the period 2016-2020 the estimated median annual income for a household in the village was $12,183.

As of the same time nearby Blue Ash has more than twice the median income of Lincoln Heights.

A man broke into the Lincoln Heights police station on fire in 1998, causing about $100,000 in damages.

[11] In the summer of 2010 a man fired bullets at Sharonville police officer who was chasing two suspects while in Lincoln Heights.

In February 2025, about a dozen neo-Nazis waving flags with swastikas gathered at a highway overpass on the border between Lincoln Heights and Evendale, Ohio.

The group pinned swastika banners and a sign that read "America is for the White Man" on the overpass.

Residents reported that the neo-Nazis used anti-black racial slurs and criticized police for allowing the hateful demonstration to take place.

Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval released a statement condemning the incident and said it was “shocking and disgusting to see swastikas displayed in Evendale today.”[19] Residents are a part of Princeton City Schools, which operates Lincoln Heights Elementary 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.