Kent County, Texas

Kent County, Texas
Kent County Courthouse in Jayton
Location in the state of Texas
Texas's location in the U.S.
Founded	1876
Named for	Andrew Kent
Seat	Jayton
Largest city	Jayton
Area
• Total	903 sq mi (2,339 km2)
• Land	902 sq mi (2,336 km2)
• Water	0.4 sq mi (1 km2), 0.05%
Population
• (2010)	808
• Density	1/sq mi (0/km²)
Congressional district	19th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.co.kent.tx.us

Kent County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, its population was 808.^[1] Its county seat is Jayton.^[2] The county is named for Andrew Kent, who died at the Battle of the Alamo. Kent County is one of 30^[3] prohibition or entirely dry counties in the state of Texas.

Republican Drew Springer, Jr., a businessman from Muenster in Cooke County, has since January 2013 represented Kent County in the Texas House of Representatives.^[4]

History timeline

• 8000 BC Paleo-Indians were the first inhabitants. Later native American inhabitants included the Wanderers band of Comanche.^[5]
• 1872 Ranald S. Mackenzie and his soldiers trounced the Comanches at Treasure Butte, southeast of Clairemont.^[5]
• 1876 The Texas legislature formed Kent County from Young and Bexar districts. The new county is named after Alamo defender Andrew Kent.^[5]
• 1888 Cattleman R. L. Rhomberg settled in the new county and named a settlement Clairemont for his daughter, Claire.^[6]
• 1890 The county census recorded 324 residents.^[5]
• 1891 A conflict arose between cattle ranchers and farmers who tried to fence their farms against cattle.^[5]
• 1892 Kent County was organized, with Clairemont as the county seat.^[7]
• 1900 The county population was 899.^[5]
• 1909 The Stamford and Northeastern Railway built a line across the county's northeast corner. The railroad, which connected Stamford and Spur, later became part of the Wichita Valley Railroad. The Jayton community was founded.^[8]
• 1930 The county's population peaked at 3,851.^[5]
• 1946-1991 Oil was discovered in Kent County in 1946. By 1991, more than 448,448,000 barrels (71,297,500 m³) of oil have been produced in the county since 1946.^[5]

Geography

According to the US Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 902.9 square miles (2,338.5 km²), of which 902.5 square miles (2,337.5 km²) is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km²) (0.05%) is covered by water.^[9]

Major highways

• U.S. Highway 380
• State Highway 70
• State Highway 208

Adjacent counties

• Dickens County (north)
• Stonewall County (east)
• Fisher County (southeast)
• Scurry County (south)
• Garza County (west)
• King County, Texas (northeast)
• Crosby County, Texas (northwest)

Demographics

As of the census^[12] of 2000, 859 people, 353 households, and 247 families resided in the county. The population density was less than 1/km² (1/sq mi). There were 551 housing units at an average density of 1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 95.46% White, 0.23% Black or African American, 0.35% Native American, 3.73% from other races, and 0.23% from two or more races. About 9% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Of the 353 households, 26.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.20% were married couples living together, 5.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.00% were not families. About 28% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.83.

In the county, the population was distributed as 20.60% under the age of 18, 5.40% from 18 to 24, 21.80% from 25 to 44, 26.80% from 45 to 64, and 25.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $30,433, and for a family was $35,568. Males had a median income of $23,875 versus $20,000 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,626. About 9.20% of families and 10.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.10% of those under age 18 and 6.10% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

• Girard
• Jayton
• Clairemont

See also

• Dry counties
• Double Mountain Fork Brazos River
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Kent County, Texas

References

External links

• Kent County government’s website
• Kent County from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Kent County Profile from the Texas Association of Counties

		Dickens County
	Garza County		Stonewall County
	Kent County, Texas
		Scurry County	Fisher County

Municipalities and communities of Kent County, Texas, United States County seat: Jayton City Jayton CDP Girard Unincorporated community Clairemont

Counties of Texas Anderson Andrews Angelina Aransas Archer Armstrong Atascosa Austin Bailey Bandera Bastrop Baylor Bee Bell Bexar Blanco Borden Bosque Bowie Brazoria Brazos Brewster Briscoe Brooks Brown Burleson Burnet Caldwell Calhoun Callahan Cameron Camp Carson Cass Castro Chambers Cherokee Childress Clay Cochran Coke Coleman Collin Collingsworth Colorado Comal Comanche Concho Cooke Coryell Cottle Crane Crockett Crosby Culberson Dallam Dallas Dawson Deaf Smith Delta Denton DeWitt Dickens Dimmit Donley Duval Eastland Ector Edwards Ellis El Paso Erath Falls Fannin Fayette Fisher Floyd Foard Fort Bend Franklin Freestone Frio Gaines Galveston Garza Gillespie Glasscock Goliad Gonzales Gray Grayson Gregg Grimes Guadalupe Hale Hall Hamilton Hansford Hardeman Hardin Harris Harrison Hartley Haskell Hays Hemphill Henderson Hidalgo Hill Hockley Hood Hopkins Houston Howard Hudspeth Hunt Hutchinson Irion Jack Jackson Jasper Jeff Davis Jefferson Jim Hogg Jim Wells Johnson Jones Karnes Kaufman Kendall Kenedy Kent Kerr Kimble King Kinney Kleberg Knox Lamar Lamb Lampasas La Salle Lavaca Lee Leon Liberty Limestone Lipscomb Live Oak Llano Loving Lubbock Lynn Madison Marion Martin Mason Matagorda Maverick McCulloch McLennan McMullen Medina Menard Midland Milam Mills Mitchell Montague Montgomery Moore Morris Motley Nacogdoches Navarro Newton Nolan Nueces Ochiltree Oldham Orange Palo Pinto Panola Parker Parmer Pecos Polk Potter Presidio Rains Randall Reagan Real Red River Reeves Refugio Roberts Robertson Rockwall Runnels Rusk Sabine San Augustine San Jacinto San Patricio San Saba Schleicher Scurry Shackelford Shelby Sherman Smith Somervell Starr Stephens Sterling Stonewall Sutton Swisher Tarrant Taylor Terrell Terry Throckmorton Titus Tom Green Travis Trinity Tyler Upshur Upton Uvalde Val Verde Van Zandt Victoria Walker Waller Ward Washington Webb Wharton Wheeler Wichita Wilbarger Willacy Williamson Wilson Winkler Wise Wood Yoakum Young Zapata Zavala

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Coordinates: 33°11′N 100°46′W / 33.19°N 100.77°W / 33.19; -100.77