[4] In about 1670 the English began to settle in the valley of the St. Jones River, earlier known as Wolf Creek.

[5] Penn ordered a court town to be laid out, and the courthouse was built in 1697.

Through much of the late 18th century, the economy of Kent County was based on small grain farms.

Delaware had a high proportion of free blacks among its African-American population by the early 19th century.

In the 1960s, Dover was a center of manufacturing of spacesuits worn by NASA astronauts in the Apollo moon flights by ILC Dover, now based in the small town of Frederica.

The Delmarva Subdivision runs north–south along the US 13 corridor through Farmington, Harrington, Felton, Wyoming, Dover, Cheswold, and Clayton and the Indian River Subdivision branches from the Delmarva Subdivision at Harrington and runs east to Houston and Milford along the DE 14 corridor.

[13] DART First State operates bus service within Kent County.

In the 2016 general elections, Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump won Kent County with 49.81% of the vote compared to Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton's 44.91% out of 74,260 votes cast.

[17] In the 2016 Delaware Gubernatorial Election, Democratic nominee John Carney won 49.68% of the vote compared to Republican Colin Bonini's 48.05%.

13.3% were of German, 11.3% United States or American, 10.9% Irish, 10.0% English and 5.4% Italian ancestry.

23.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

[25] In terms of ancestry, 17.5% were German, 15.4% were Irish, 11.5% were English, 7.2% were Italian, and 5.9% were American.

Kent County is home to an Amish community residing to the west of Dover, consisting of 9 church districts and about 1,650 people.

The Amish first settled in Kent County in 1915 after migrations from Wisconsin, Montana, Alabama, and Ohio.

Every September, the Amish Country Bike Tour, one of the largest cycling events in Delaware, takes place in the area.

In recent years, increasing development has led to the decline in the number of Amish living in the community.

[30][31][29] School districts include:[32] Tertiary institutions: Wesley College merged into DSU in 2021.