Kent is an
unincorporated community in
Stephenson County
Stephenson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 United States Census, it had a population of 47,711. Its county seat is Freeport.
Stephenson County is included in the Freeport, IL Micropolitan Statist ...
,
Illinois. Kent is home to Forreston State Bank, Kent Feed Mill, St. Paul's Lutheran Church (
ELCA), Kent United Methodist Church, Kent Fire Department and the Kent U.S. Post Office.
History
Kent was surveyed and platted in 1887 at the same time the
Chicago Great Western Railroad
The Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnesota a ...
laid its tracks through Stephenson County.
[ When the village was founded it was the only village within its township and it was thought that the area had great potential for growth.][ Kent is probably named for the Reverend Aratus Kent, a traveling evangelist from Galena, Illinois.][ The post office in present-day Kent was established on July 29, 1850.][Callary, Edward. ''Place Names of Illinois'',]
Google Books link
, University of Illinois Press, 2008 p. 185, ().
Geography
Kent is located in Stephenson County, Illinois about 12 miles west of Freeport Freeport, a variant of free port, may refer to:
Places United States
*Freeport, California
*Freeport, Florida
*Freeport, Illinois
*Freeport, Indiana
*Freeport, Iowa
*Freeport, Kansas
*Freeport, Maine, a New England town
**Freeport (CDP), Maine, the ...
.[ Kent is located in the southwestern part of its township, near the Stephenson-]Jo Daviess County
Jo Daviess County () is the northwesternmost county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 22,678. Its county seat is Galena.
Jo Daviess County is part of the Tri-State Area and is located near D ...
line. It is also in proximity to Pearl City.[Fulwider, Addison L. ''History of Stephenson County, Illinois, Volume I'',]
Google Books link
, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2009 (reprint of public domain material), pp. 362-63, ().
Demographics
According to the 2000 Census, statistics which included the village of Kent and its surrounding zip code area,[See Censu]
reference map
274 people reside within the zip code 61044.
See also
* Battle of Kellogg's Grove
*Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crosse ...
*Kellogg's Grove
Kellogg's Grove is an area in western Stephenson County, Illinois, United States near the present-day unincorporated town of Kent. The grove is considered historically significant because it was the site of two minor skirmishes during the Black ...
References
Further reading
*Keister, Philip Lincoln. ''Kent: For a Century and a Quarter, 1827-1952'', Windmill Publications, 2000 (reprint of 1952 sesquicentennial book), ().
*Knowlton, D.A.
Presbyterianism in Stephenson County, Illinois
, pp. 193–96, Illinois State Historical Society, ''Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society'', vol. 11, 1918.
External links
NACo
Unincorporated communities in Stephenson County, Illinois
Unincorporated communities in Illinois
Populated places established in 1887
{{StephensonCountyIL-geo-stub