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Kent, Washington was the home of some of the earliest pioneers in King County, and is located some 15 miles southeast of Seattle.
The course of the White River, which went northward, was changed by the Osceola Mudflow. Over numerous years, the river filled the valley with alluvium. During the middle 1800's, the first white pioneers arrived and valley was full of arable and fertile soil, which was ideal for farming.
Treaties had been agreed to by all of the Indian tribes all around Puget Sound by 1855, which determined the land rights. However, the White River Indians were more reluctant to be relocated than the Snohomish and the Snoqualmie tribes in the north. Some of these local Indian tribes elected to fight back, beginning during the fall of 1855.
After the Indian skirmish, the Farmers took to the land again, and raised crops of vegetables, such as onions and potatoes. Livestock was put to pasture on land that hadn't been tilled. The majority of the valley had been cleared, and a new cash crop was being grown, by the late 1870's. This new crop was a bitter plant in the hemp family used for flavoring beer, known as hops.
The valley was taken by storm with the hops craze. Hops commanded a high price in the marketplace and were inexpensive to grow. For some ten years, hops were growing everywhere, until 1891, when the hops crops were destroyed by aphids.
Work started began on a railroad line through the valley that connected up with the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883, which was owned at the time by a man named Henry Villard. However, Mr. Villard had business problems and quit prior to the railroad being complete.
Eventually, the railroad line was brought into service. However, it was a poor railroad line by any standards. Passengers in King County complained, and the Northern Pacific Railroad shut down once again. When the railroad line was threatened with the revocation of their land grant, the railroad line reopened. When the Northern Pacific Railroad relocated its terminus to Seattle from Tacoma, in 1887, it became a dependable source of transportation in the valley.
Kent suffered with the arrival of Great Depression. However, the community took things in stride. However, everything in the community changed with the arrival of WW II. Japanese Americans, who had already been the subject of increasing discrimination during the 1930's, had to move as the result of Executive Order 9066, which ordered all second generation Japanese Americans, known as Nisei, and Issei were relocated to internment camps.
In 1942, whole families, some of whom had been residing in the valley for over 30 years, were placed on trains out of the community. Because the Nisei were born on American soil, those who owned land were permitted to turn their land over to the government for holding, or sell it. The government then redistributed some 1,600 acres of land to other farmers, after the evacuation.
During the warm farming was still the highest priority. However, once the Japanese Americans were removed, combined with the loss of young men into battle, there were some severe labor shortages.
Not many Japanese Americans came back to the valley following the end of the war. This was primarily due to the continuing racial prejudice expressed against them by the white residents, after Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Originally, the farmers in the valley were very happy, since they had to deal with yearly flooding for several years. In 1962, the building of the Howard A. Hanson dam was completed. Since then, major flooding has been prevented. However, rather than opening up the land for farming, industrial heads and developers took over, and started transforming the valley.
In addition to these changes, the Valley Freeway was created, which, in 1957, was approved. In 1966, I-5 on the westernmost edge the valley was completed and opened. In order to increase its tax base, the community Kent started to annex as much property as possible, because the community recognized the changes to come. The size of physical Kent increased to the 1960 size of 12.7 square miles, from one square mile in 1953.
The Boeing Aerospace Center, which was developed in 1955, was the first large industry to relocate to Kent. In 1970, the Apollo Moon Buggie was constructed in Kent. This was the same place where only a few years earlier where lettuce had grown. Other industries that followed were primarily manufacturing plants as well as warehouses. However, some high-tech companies started predominating by the 1980's.
Kent had changed to an industrial hub from an agricultural community in only a few years. to an industrial center. Adding to the tax base in Kent, were the many different businesses, that were located in Kent. The community of Kent has been permitted to spend a significant amount of money on their park system, which make it one of the largest in the nation. Kent is also a regional leader in the arts and education.
The city of Kent has experienced numerous changes after being in existence for over 110 years. These changes include everything from hop farming to buggies for the moon. Vegetable and fruit sand can still be located on the backroads of Kent, even with all of the changes that have occurred.
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Kent Tidbits
Kent, Washington was the home of some of the earliest pioneers in King County, and is located some 15 miles southeast of Seattle.
The course of the White River, which went northward, was changed by the Osceola Mudflow. Over numerous years, the river filled the valley with alluvium. During the middle 1800's, the first white pioneers arrived and valley was full of arable and fertile soil, which was ideal for farming.
Treaties had been agreed to by all of the Indian tribes all around Puget Sound by 1855, which determined the land rights. However, the White River Indians were more reluctant to be relocated than the Snohomish and the Snoqualmie tribes in the north. Some of these local Indian tribes elected to fight back, beginning during the fall of 1855.
After the Indian skirmish, the Farmers took to the land again, and raised crops of vegetables, such as onions and potatoes. Livestock was put to pasture on land that hadn't been tilled. The majority of the valley had been cleared, and a new cash crop was being grown, by the late 1870's. This new crop was a bitter plant in the hemp family used for flavoring beer, known as hops.
The valley was taken by storm with the hops craze. Hops commanded a high price in the marketplace and were inexpensive to grow. For some ten years, hops were growing everywhere, until 1891, when the hops crops were destroyed by aphids.
Work started began on a railroad line through the valley that connected up with the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883, which was owned at the time by a man named Henry Villard. However, Mr. Villard had business problems and quit prior to the railroad being complete.
Eventually, the railroad line was brought into service. However, it was a poor railroad line by any standards. Passengers in King County complained, and the Northern Pacific Railroad shut down once again. When the railroad line was threatened with the revocation of their land grant, the railroad line reopened. When the Northern Pacific Railroad relocated its terminus to Seattle from Tacoma, in 1887, it became a dependable source of transportation in the valley.
Kent suffered with the arrival of Great Depression. However, the community took things in stride. However, everything in the community changed with the arrival of WW II. Japanese Americans, who had already been the subject of increasing discrimination during the 1930's, had to move as the result of Executive Order 9066, which ordered all second generation Japanese Americans, known as Nisei, and Issei were relocated to internment camps.
In 1942, whole families, some of whom had been residing in the valley for over 30 years, were placed on trains out of the community. Because the Nisei were born on American soil, those who owned land were permitted to turn their land over to the government for holding, or sell it. The government then redistributed some 1,600 acres of land to other farmers, after the evacuation.
During the warm farming was still the highest priority. However, once the Japanese Americans were removed, combined with the loss of young men into battle, there were some severe labor shortages.
Not many Japanese Americans came back to the valley following the end of the war. This was primarily due to the continuing racial prejudice expressed against them by the white residents, after Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Originally, the farmers in the valley were very happy, since they had to deal with yearly flooding for several years. In 1962, the building of the Howard A. Hanson dam was completed. Since then, major flooding has been prevented. However, rather than opening up the land for farming, industrial heads and developers took over, and started transforming the valley.
In addition to these changes, the Valley Freeway was created, which, in 1957, was approved. In 1966, I-5 on the westernmost edge the valley was completed and opened. In order to increase its tax base, the community Kent started to annex as much property as possible, because the community recognized the changes to come. The size of physical Kent increased to the 1960 size of 12.7 square miles, from one square mile in 1953.
The Boeing Aerospace Center, which was developed in 1955, was the first large industry to relocate to Kent. In 1970, the Apollo Moon Buggie was constructed in Kent. This was the same place where only a few years earlier where lettuce had grown. Other industries that followed were primarily manufacturing plants as well as warehouses. However, some high-tech companies started predominating by the 1980's.
Kent had changed to an industrial hub from an agricultural community in only a few years. to an industrial center. Adding to the tax base in Kent, were the many different businesses, that were located in Kent. The community of Kent has been permitted to spend a significant amount of money on their park system, which make it one of the largest in the nation. Kent is also a regional leader in the arts and education.
The city of Kent has experienced numerous changes after being in existence for over 110 years. These changes include everything from hop farming to buggies for the moon. Vegetable and fruit sand can still be located on the backroads of Kent, even with all of the changes that have occurred.