History of Kent, Ohio

The region was previously inhabited by various tribes of American Indians including the Mound Builders for an unknown period of time.

[7] Franklin Township was surveyed in 1803, and settled in November 1805 by John Haymaker, his wife Sally, and children Jacob, Eve, and Catherine.

They initially lived in the former hut of the surveying team before settling on the banks of the Cuyahoga River in early 1806 and building a gristmill in 1807.

[9] Initial growth in the area was slow, but eventually two small villages would develop due to the potential power generated by the Cuyahoga River that could be used in gristmills and manufacturing.

By the time the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal opened in 1840 and the construction of what is today downtown Kent was completed, the rivalry had effectively ended as did the distinction between the two villages.

Franklin Mills was selected as part of the route and due to the rocky gorge of the Cuyahoga River, construction of a lock and dam was necessitated.

In the era leading up to the American Civil War, Franklin Mills was an active stop on the Underground Railroad, giving fugitive slaves shelter on their escape to Canada.

[18] During this period, in 1835, noted American abolitionist John Brown moved to the village, operating a tannery along the Cuyahoga River with Zenas Kent, leaving in 1839.

Today, a park is on the site of the tannery, which was torn down in 1976 as part of an environmental reclamation project of the areas around the Cuyahoga River.

[20] In 1863, a local businessman by the name of Marvin Kent was influential in bringing the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad through the village.

[27] In 1903, the library moved to its current location on West Main Street in a building that was financed by a $10,000 USD ($377,960 present-day) gift from Andrew Carnegie.

Later that night as Kent police closed down the bars, several demonstrators—a mixture of locals, students, and others—blocked traffic along North Water Street, started a bonfire, and broke windows of 15 downtown businesses with an estimated $10,000 of damage before being pushed towards campus.

That night, an estimated 1,000 demonstrators witnessed the destruction of the Army ROTC building, which had been set on fire by some unidentified individuals.

[35] Protesters assaulted Kent firefighters and cut the fire hoses,[36] preventing them from putting out the blaze, which was finally cleared by the arrival of the Ohio National Guard later that night.

Kent would again be in the national spotlight in 1977 when a tent city was built on campus to protest construction of the University's gym annex near the site of the shootings.

The parkway, a relocated section of Ohio State Route 59, includes two bridges that span all three of Kent's railroad lines.

It was common for much of the 20th century for passenger and freight trains to block all three of the main crossings along the Erie tracks, which pass through downtown, effectively dividing the city in half.

[45] In 2003, the old arch dam was bypassed to meet water quality standards set by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

[15] Beginning in 2008, several redevelopment projects in the downtown area, some of which had been discussed for decades, were put into motion and resulted in nearly $110 million in total investment from public and private sources.

The first of these was the Phoenix Project, a development privately financed by Kent resident Ron Burbick that renovated and expanded a section of commercial space along East Main Street.

[46] Included in the project was construction of a pedestrian alleyway lined with small shops, eventually known as Acorn Alley, which opened in 2009.

New offices for Ametek and the Davey Tree Expert Company opened in late 2012 along with several new small businesses on the first floors of each building.

[51] The developments attracted the attention of The Plain Dealer and The New York Times and earned the city and university the 2013 Larry Abernathy Award from the International Town–Gown Association in recognition of the positive town–gown cooperation and collaboration.

Construction of the University Esplanade extension, designed to link campus with downtown, started in August 2012 after several of the buildings in the area, most of which had been rental homes, were demolished or moved.

The Esplanade extension continued a segment of the Portage Hike and Bike Trail that extends to Dix Stadium and was completed in October 2013.