Kent County, Michigan

Kent County was originally set off from Mackinac County in 1831. It takes its name from James Kent, a New York jurist and legal scholar who represented Michigan Territory during the Toledo Strip dispute. The county seat is Grand Rapids, originally known as the Village of Kent, which is the largest city in West Michigan. The city grew first upon the east bank of the Grand River, aka the Owashtenong, while the west bank was occupied by the Ottawa. Its growth was fueled by the logging and furniture industry amongst many others.

Grand Rapids has many suburbs and the farms that used to lay in these smaller neighboring cities are declining in number due to urban sprawl. However the outlying area within the county is still largely agricultural and some smaller towns still exist though many of the earliest settlements along old railway routes could now be considered ghost towns.
Information Courtesy of Kelly White.

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