Kent, Illinois

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1937 and the latest in 1981. It stands in Kent Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61044. The Survey maps it on the Kent quadrangle. It stands 899 feet above sea level.

Kent within Stephenson County

On record in Kent

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Kellogg's Grovelisted 1978

Topographic sheets covering this place

9 surveys from 14 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1937 USGS Lena quadrangle1:48000
1942 USGS Lena quadrangle1:62500
1943 USGS Lena quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1954 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1955 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
1963 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:250000
1971 USGS Kent quadrangle1:24000
1981 USGS Rockford quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

In the county-history sources

4,342 words on this township

The History of Stephenson County, Illinois : Containing ... Biographical Sketches ... War Record ... Statistics ... Portraits of Early Settlers ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois, &c. .., published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Kent Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

This township comprises the east half of Township 27, Range 5, and the west half of Township 27, Range 6, with an aggregate of 22,700 acres, upward of 20,000 acres being under cultivation. The township is well watered by Yellow Creek and its numerous branches, and a fine growth of timber is to be found in the northern part.

Passage source: The History of Stephenson County, Illinois : Containing ... Biographical Sketches ... War Record ... Statistics ... Portraits of Early Settlers ... History of the Northwest, History of Illinois, &c. .., published 1880.

The old cabin, however, was first sold to a man named Lafayette, who in turn assigned his title to one by the name of Green, from Galena. The latter remained in possession until 1835, when James Timms became the purchaser, removing thither with his family the same year, the first permanent settler in the township, and the only settler at that date west of Freeport. In the fall of 1835, Jesse Willet came in, and settled at what is now known as Willet's bridge, below Timms', building a house there that is yet standing. Calvin and Jabez Giddings are said to have come about the same time and established themselves on Yellow Creek, four miles north of Timms'. During the winter of that year and the spring of 1836, there is no record of any one having ventured into the vicinity, wherein Timms and his neighbors held undisputed possession, and cultivated patches of corn and other grains. In the fall of 1836, Gilbert Osborn was added to the number of settlers already mentioned, and again was the colony remitted to quiet and relief from further incursions by pioneer plodders in the wilderness. In 1839, J. Reber settled one and a half miles northwest of Timms', and in the following year Frank Maginnis erected a cabin on the present farm of Jacob Gable. Benjamin Illingsworth settled near the Timms house, making that hospitable mansion a home while his cabin was without a roof to protect its owner from the inclemency of the weather.

Previous to this last date, a mill had been erected on Yellow Creek by John and Frederick Reber, and, as it was near the center of the township, it was liberally patronized. Before its completion, the settlers had been obliged to procure the grinding of their cereals at Craig's mill, on Apple River, at Buffalo Creek in Ogle County, and elsewhere. The inhabitants obtained their supplies of bacon from Galena or Dixon, and when short of " hog-meat," indulged an appetite for game, which was to be found in abundance in the winter, on barrens and prairie. In 1837, a school was opened by William Ensign in the house of James Timras, where he taught the young idea, acknowledged by the Timms, Maginnis, Giddings and Willet families, the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. By these and kindred means did the early pioneers of Kent Township not only dissipate dull care, but contributed in providing substantial means for future wealth and civilization.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Kent Township - it names this place 17 more 17 times.

Fires near this place

2 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Kent in 2004, burning about 22 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Recreation and ceremony	2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
7 April 2004	Recreation and ceremony	20 acres	Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
17 April 2004	Recreation and ceremony	2.0 acres	Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Stephenson County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Kent: 6 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, General. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Hallelman Quarry	Limestone, General	Past Producer
A & K Thompson Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Kent Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Caudle Qy Formerly Msha #1100089	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Lena Pit	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Unnamed Limestone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Stephenson County

Storms near this place

9 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kent in 9 storm reports between 2003 and 2021: 6 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
July 2009	Hail	Kent	$50,000	Hail estimated to be 2 inches in diameter fell about 1.5 miles north northeast of Kent, IL around 615 pm July 24. The hail caused widespread crop damage as well as damage to some residences and vehicles in the area.
August 2003	Hail	Kent	$20,000	no account filed
August 2003	Hail	Kent	$10,000	no account filed
August 2003	Hail	Kent	$10,000	no account filed
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	Trees blown down.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	Wind gusts measured to be 60 mph were observed near Kent, IL at 210 pm June 18.
July 2009	Hail	Kent	-	Hail 2 inches in diameter fell about 5 miles west southwest of Lena, IL around 602 pm July 24.
July 2008	Hail	Kent	-	Dime-sized hail fell near Kent, IL at 12:35 pm July 31.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Kent	-	Wind gusts measured to be 70 mph were observed near Kent, IL at 12:29 pm July 31.

Every storm recorded in Stephenson County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Yellow Creek	2.4 miles	14
Sunnyside	3.4 miles	14
Pearl City	5.0 miles	14
Loran	5.1 miles	14
Lena	6.5 miles	15
Salem	7.0 miles	14
Waddams Grove	7.6 miles	14
Eleroy	7.7 miles	14

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Kent	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6391567	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 411409. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.