Kent County, Texas

Kent County in West Texas, is surrounded on the north by Dickens County, on the west by Garza County, on the east by Stonewall County, and on the south by Scurry and Fisher counties.

Cities, Towns & Communities

Clairemont | Clipper | Girard | Harmony | Jayton – county seat | Luzon | Polar

History

Kent County. This county, situated near the southern edge of the Staked Plains, was created August 21, 1876, and the county government organized November 8, 1892. The upper courses of the Brazos River traverse it, and much of its surface is broken land. Although the number of farmers is increasing each year, live stock raising on the ranches is the chief occupation of the people. A number of the larger tracts have been divided into farms. Fourteen miles west of Clairemont, the county seat, oil has been discovered, and another important source of wealth is gypsum, a plant for the manufacture of cement plaster being in operation at Jayton, which is the largest town of the county. Jayton is located on the line of the Stamford & Northwestern division of the Wichita Valley Railroad, which was constructed across the northwestern corner of the county about 1909.

The population of the county at successive decades has been : In 1880, 92 ; in 1890, 324; in 1900, 899; in 1910, 2,655. The total valuation of property in 1903 was $1,212,173; in 1913, $2.375,317 and in 1920, $5,158,115. The last census enumerated 18,158 cattle, and 2,256 horses and mules. Aside from stock raising the agricultural development up to 1910 was limited. The total area of the county is 560,000 acres, and while nearly all was included in farms or ranches in 1910, only about 27,000 acres were classified as “improved land,” and about 6,000 acres were so classified in 1900. The number of farms in 1910 was 326, as compared with 134 in 1900. The chief crops in 1909 were : Cotton. 6,182 acres; kaffir corn and milo maize 1,858 acres ; hay and forage crops. 1,856 acres, and corn, 1,271 acres. About six thousand orchard fruit trees were enumerated. 

Kent County was organized in 1892 with Clairemont as the county seat, and settlement accelerated. By 1900, 899 people lived in the county and 134 farms and ranches had been established. Oats (3,330 acres) and corn (1,069 acres) were the county’s most popular crops, but the cattle business continued to dominate the economy; almost 29,600 cattle were counted in Kent County that year. In 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. As the railroad encouraged the settlement of Swedes and others, Jayton was founded in the eastern part of the county in 1909. By 1910 Kent County included 326 farms, and the county population had reached 2,655. 

Location

Jayton, TX 33° 14′ 53.3364″ N, 100° 34′ 25.4136″ W

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