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is a city in Portage County, Ohio, United States. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in the northeastern part of Ohio and the western edge of Portage County. Part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, Kent was originally settled in 1805, and first developed as two separate villages: Franklin (later Franklin Mills) and Carthage, which eventually grew into Franklin Mills. The village would develop first due to the potential for gristmills along the Cuyahoga River and later as a stop on the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal in the 1830s and 1840s. 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 village became the home of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad shops, which ultimately led to the village being renamed Kent in 1864 after railroad owner Marvin Kent. Today Kent is a college town known mostly for being home to the main campus of Kent State University, founded in 1910.
The population was 27,906 at the 2000 census and 28,253 in the 2007 estimate, making it the county's largest city. Nearby metropolitan areas include Akron, Cleveland, Canton, and Youngstown-Warren. Kent is part of the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the Cleveland-Akron-Elyria Combined Statistical Area for census purposes.
Residents of Kent are referred to as "Kentites" or as "townies" by Kent State University students and the city's nickname is "The Tree City" due to it being the home of the Davey Tree Expert Company.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.7 square miles (22.6 km²), of which, 8.7 square miles (22.5 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.23%) is water.