About Kent WA
For many years in the valley and the plateaus that surrounded what is currently known as Kent, Washington, Native Indians had been gathering berries, hunting, and fishing. Because they increased their trading potential, many Indians welcomed the white settlers. However, tensions flared as an ever increasing number of white settlers arrived in the valley, the access to the surrounding land and the river was reduced to the Indians. Although the White River Indians were more reluctant to be moved than the northern Snohomish and Snoqualmie tribes, treaties were signed with Indian tribes all through the Puget Sound area, which determined the land rights by 1855. Some of the local Indians began to fight back by late 1855.
Next came the Seattle Indian Wars. The war was over quickly and the Indians retreated within a few months after troops were brought into the region. A new treaty established the Muckleshoot reservation, which is the only Indian reservation currently located within King County. Collectively, the White River tribes came to be called the Muckleshoot tribe. The white settlers were slow to return to the valley following this ruckus. Once again, farmers took to the land and raised crops of vegetables such as onions and potatoes. On land that wasn’t tilled, animal stock was brought in to pasture. A new cash crop was cultivated after much of the valley was cleared in the late 1870’s, which was a bitter plant of the hemp family known as hops, which was used to flavor beer. The valley was taken by storm by the hops craze. As a result of a blight in Europe, hops commanded a high price in the marketplace and were inexpensive to produce. All through the valley, hop kilns and hop farms were blossoming and making many farmers wealthy men. In 1891, most of the crop was destroyed by aphids. However, hops caused the transformation of the transportation routes in the valley.
During the early 1880’s, farmers needed a way to get their hops to the marketplace. To and from Seattle, the most reliable method of transportation was the river. The most popular river vessel was steamboats. Soon bridges were spanning the river and roads were being constructed. Work started on a rail line through the valley that connected with the Northern Pacific in 1883. The branch line was soon being called Orphan Road as the result of neglect after the Northern Pacific was acquired by some anti-Seattle and pro-Tacoma interests.
The rail line was brought into service, although somewhat poorly, following some legal wrangling. The Northern Pacific shut it down after riders from King County complained. After reopening, the rail line was threatened with the revocation of a land grant. Orphan Road finally became a dependable means of transportation in the valley when the Northern Pacific relocated its terminus to Seattle from Tacoma. Kent received its name from the railroad. Although many people had named the small community Titusville, after an early settler, in 1885, a general construction engineer for the Northern Pacific decided to call the station Kent, after Kenty County, England where all they raise is hops.
The first plat was filed in 1888. During the following two years, members of the community made some additions, and the residents expressed their desire to incorporate in 1890. The year 1890 brought the incorporation of Kent as a town. In 1891, the hop industry collapsed. Then, things got even worse when an economic collapse occurred nationwide in 1893. Practically overnight, wealthy farmers became paupers. However, the community hung in there.
The first large success in Kent after the hops era was The Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company. The company later became known as the Carnation Milk Company. Kent had all of the elements of a growing community by 1900, including social organizations, newspapers, stores, churches, schools, and banks. The interurban rail service arrived in the community in 1902. In 1906, a major flood changed the course of the White River through southwestern Pierce County and farmers got a break. Prior to this, the Green and White Rivers flooded every year after merging. Now, the farmers of Kent only had to contend with the Green River.
An important role was played by the farmers of Kent in Seattle history during this period. Whenever they brought their produce to Seattle, the farmers had problems with wholesale dealers who kept their prices high and defrauded them. In 1907, as a result, Pike Place Market was established so that consumers could buy their vegetables and fruits directly from the growers. Kent was growing in the early 1900’s. The Issei, who were first generation Japanese farmers, leased some farmland from American citizens. By 1920, the Issei in the Kent Valley supplied half the fresh milk consumed in Seattle, and more than 70% of the vegetables and the fruit for Western Washington.
The community was changed by WW II. As a result of Executive Order 9066, Japanese Americans were forced to move into internment camps. Whole families were placed on trains out of the community. Those Nissei with property that were born on American soil were permitted to turn it over to the government for holding or sell it. During the war, farming continued to be a top priority. However, labor shortages became a problem with the loss of young men in battle and the removal of Japanese Americans. School children were used to help out on the farms while women helped out in the defense industry.
Only a few Japanese Americans came back to the valley after the end of the war. In the meantime, changes were brought to the landscape as a result of changes in water management, but the way that was expected by the farmers. Since the 1920’s the residents of the valley had a goal of damming the Green River high up in the mountains. Finally, Congress was convinced to create a storage dam at Eagle George by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1950. Major flooding has been prevented ever since 1962 with the completion of the construction of the Howard A. Hanson dam. However, industrial giants started swooping in and changed the valley rather than establishing more farmland.
In 1957, Valley Freeway was completed. In 1966, Interstate 5 was also completed. In order to expand its tax base, Kent started annexing as much land as possible. The physical size of Kent grew to 12.7 square miles by 1960 from one square mile in 1953. In 1965, Boeing Aerospace Center was constructed in Kent. In 1970, the Apollo Moon Buggie was built there. By the 1980’s high tech industries started to dominate the area. Kent had become an industrial center from a farming community in only a few years. The tax base in Kent increased as a result of the large number of businesses. Kent is the regional leader in the arts and education and has one of the largest park systems in the county.