Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,215 at the 2020 census. The city is counted as part of the Akron metropolitan area and the larger Cleveland, Akron, Canton combined statistical area.
Part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, Kent was settled in 1805 and was known for many years as Franklin Mills. Settlers were attracted to the area due to its location along the Cuyahoga River as a place for water powered mills. Later development came in the 1830s and 1840s as a result of the settlement’s position along the route of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal. Leading up to the American Civil War, Franklin Mills was noted for its activity in the Underground Railroad. With the decline of the canal and the emergence of the railroad, the town became the home of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad maintenance shops through the influence of Marvin Kent. In 1864 the town was renamed Kent in honor of Marvin Kent’s efforts. It was incorporated as a village in 1867 and became a city after the 1920 Census. Today Kent is a college town best known as the home of the main campus of Kent State University, founded in 1910, and as the site of the May 4, 1970 Kent State shootings.
At a Glance
- County: Portage County
- State: Ohio
History of Kent
The region was originally inhabited by Native Americans, including the early Mound Builders. Around 1780, Captain Samuel Brady achieved notoriety for his activities in the area, including his leap of 21 feet (6 m) over the Cuyahoga River to avoid capture by a Native band. The site, known as Brady’s Leap, is now a city park. Settlement by Europeans began in the late 1790s and early 19th century. As part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, the area was divided into survey townships in 1798 and almost all of what is now Kent was originally part of Town 3 Range 9, which would eventually be known as Franklin Township. Aaron Olmsted, a wealthy Connecticut merchant, had purchased the 16,000 acre (6,500 ha) township and named it for his son Aaron Franklin Olmsted.
Franklin Township was surveyed in 1803 and settled in November 1805 when John and Sally Haymaker and their three children moved west from Warren to the banks of the Cuyahoga River. They were joined by John’s brother George and their father Jacob Haymaker and their families early the next year, and built a gristmill in 1807. Initial growth in the area was slow, but eventually two small villages developed due to the potential for power generated by the Cuyahoga River to be used in gristmills and manufacturing. The first village, known as Franklin Mills, or locally as the "Lower Village", developed mostly around the original Haymaker property. In 1818, Joshua Woodard arrived in the area and began constructing buildings just north of the village forming the "Upper Village" that would be known briefly as Carthage.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Kent, Ohio, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.