James Kent Hamilton was Republican mayor of Toledo, Ohio, United States 1887–1891.

James Kent Hamilton was born in Milan, Erie County, Ohio, May 17, 1839.

[2] He studied law in Mount Vernon, Milan, and Toledo, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1862.

He served as a captain in the 113th Ohio Infantry until the end of the American Civil War.

[2] Hamilton resumed the practice of law in Toledo after the war, and was prosecuting attorney of Lucas County in 1869.