Kent, New York

Kent, New York
Town
Location of Kent, New York Location of Kent, New York
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	New York
County	Putnam
Government
• Supervisor	Maureen Fleming
Area
• Total	43.2 sq mi (111.8 km2)
• Land	40.6 sq mi (105.2 km2)
• Water	2.5 sq mi (6.6 km2)
Elevation	610 ft (186 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	13,507
• Density	310/sq mi (120/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
FIPS code	36-39331
GNIS feature ID	0979740
Website	www.townofkentny.com

Kent is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. The population was 13,507 at the 2010 census. The name is that of an early settler family. The town is in the north-central part of the Putnam County. Many of the lakes are reservoirs for New York City.

History

Kent was part of the Philipse Patent of 1697, when it was still populated by the Wappinger tribe. Daniel Nimham (1724–1778) was the last chief of the Wappingers and was the most prominent Native American of his time in the Hudson Valley.

The town was first settled by Europeans in the mid-18th century by Zachariah Merritt and others, from New England, Westchester County, or the Fishkill area. Elisha Cole and his wife Hannah Smalley built Coles Mills in 1748, having moved to that location the previous year from Cape Cod. Coles Mill operated until 1888 when it was submerged under West Branch Reservoir. Around this same time the northeastern part of the county was settled by the Kent, Townsend, and Ludington families, among others. The father of Hannah Smalley and his family moved to Kent about two years before Elisha Cole and his family.

Kent was a part of the Frederickstown Precinct which was chartered in 1772, the rest of Frederickstown consisting of the future town of Carmel and the western parts of the future towns of Patterson and Southeast. Other early family names were Townsend, Smalley, Kent, Dykeman, Barrett, Cole, Boyd, Wixon, Farrington, Burton, Carter, and Ludington.

The present-day intersection of Interstate 84 and Ludingtonville Road was the home of Col. Henry Ludington and his daughter Sybil, who rode 40 miles (64 km) one night in 1777 to call up her father's militia during the American Revolutionary War. A statue of her stands on the shores of Lake Gleneida across from the Putnam County Courthouse.

When the towns of Carmel and Patterson were split from Frederickstown in 1795, the remnant, constituting the current Kent, was established as the "Town of Frederick". Until 1812 it was part of Dutchess County. The town's name was changed to "Kent" in 1817. A small portion of the town of Philipstown was transferred to Kent in 1877.

The major population center of the township is Lake Carmel, a settlement around an artificial lake of the same name developed in the 1920s. Historically the population centers had been Farmer's Mills and Luddingtonville, little of which remain, and Cole's Mills, none of which remains.

Much of early Kent's economy was based on dairy farming for the New York City market, but with many reservoirs being constructed in the late 19th century for drinking water for the same city, most of the farms were submerged, and the dairy industry was all but abandoned by the 1920s. At that point, and because of the advent of the automobile, Kent started to attract new residents from the city.

The town is served by the Carmel Central School District and, for the majority of residents, by the Carmel Post Office. Kent is home to the 80-foot-tall (24 m) Mt. Ninham Fire Tower, located in the Taconic Hills. Built by the State of New York and the CCC in 1940, it is the tallest remaining fire tower in New York state and appears on the National Historic Lookout Register.

In 2010 and 2012, the town was rocked by two scandals when town officials protected known vandals Philip Imbrogno and Renee Fleury, and when the residents of Smokey Hollow were denied their right to petition to stop the building of a proposed cell tower in their neighborhood. Town official George Baum filed an unsuccessful SLAPP lawsuit (see "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation") against the local preservationists in 2012 who had reported the vandals to the town, in an effort to intimidate and silence them. Later that year the Town Supervisor was voted out of office by a landslide margin.

Geography

File:House on Horse Pound Road in Kent.JPG

House on Horse Pound Road

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 43.2 square miles (112 km²), of which 40.6 square miles (105 km²) is land and 2.5 square miles (6.5 km²), or 5.88%, is water. The north town line is the border of Dutchess County.

Kent sits high on the spectacular Hudson Highlands 60 miles (97 km) north of New York City in the north central portion of Putnam County. Within the borders are two state parks: Wonder Lake in the east and Fahnestock in the west, as well as a portion of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and thousands of acres of spectacular open spaces under the permanent protection of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Kent is home to a number of lakes which were once the domain of summer visitors but now have become year-round communities. Sagamore Lake, Kentwood Lake, Lake Tibet, China Lake, Palmer Lake and White Pond. Kent is also home to a number of reservoirs that supply water to New York City and Westchester County, and consequently a large portion of the land has been purchased for conservation by New York City through the Watershed Preservation Program. The reservoirs include Boyd's Corners and West Branch, with the latter being the east-of-Hudson terminus of the Catskill/Delaware system and an important link in the New York City water supply.

Interstate 84 and the Taconic State Parkway pass through the town.

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1820	1,801		—
1830	1,928		7.1%
1840	1,830		−5.1%
1850	1,557		−14.9%
1860	1,479		−5.0%
1870	1,547		4.6%
1880	1,361		−12.0%
1890	1,147		−15.7%
1900	1,026		−10.5%
1910	968		−5.7%
1920	696		−28.1%
1930	770		10.6%
1940	1,546		100.8%
1950	2,146		38.8%
1960	3,924		82.9%
1970	8,106		106.6%
1980	12,433		53.4%
1990	13,183		6.0%
2000	14,009		6.3%
2010	13,507		−3.6%
Est. 2014	13,399		−0.8%
U.S. Decennial Census

As of the census of 2000, there were 14,009 people, 4,868 households, and 3,748 families residing in the town. The population density was 344.8 people per square mile (133.1/km²). There were 5,353 housing units at an average density of 131.8 per square mile (50.9/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 93.81% White, 1.41% African American, 0.14% Native American, 1.24% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.81% from other races, and 1.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.77% of the population.

There were 4,868 households out of which 38.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.4% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.0% were non-families. 17.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.24.

In the town the population was spread out with 26.3% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 98.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $72,346, and the median income for a family was $79,716. Males had a median income of $51,634 versus $38,575 for females. The per capita income for the town was $29,984. About 4.2% of families and 4.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.6% of those under age 18 and 8.4% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The Town of Kent is governed by a town board. Kent Town Hall is located at 25 Sybil's Crossing in Kent Lakes. Primary law enforcement services in Kent are provided by the Kent Police Department.

Communities and locations in Kent

The Chuang Yen Monastery (莊嚴寺) in Kent houses the largest indoor statue of Buddha in the Western Hemisphere.

• Allen Corners – hamlet in the northwest part of the town
• Berkshire Terrace – hamlet in the north part of the town
• Camp Hines – locale
• Carmel Park Estates – locale
• Clear Pool Camp – locale
• Clarence Fahnestock State Park – state park in the west part of the town
• Farmers Mills – hamlet in the northwest part of the town
• Gipsy Trail Club – locale
• Hill & Dale Country Club – Palmer Lake Community
• Lake Carmel – hamlet in the eastern part of the town
• Kent Cliffs – locale
• Kent Corners – hamlet north of Lake Carmel village
• Kent Hills – hamlet south of Ludingtonville
• Kentwood Estates – hamlet in the north part of town
• Ludingtonville – hamlet near the north town line
• Meads Corners – locale
• Ninham Fire Tower – tallest Historic Fire Tower in New York State
• Richardsville – locale
• Seven Hills Lake – locale
• Wonder Lake State Park – locale
• Yale Corners – locale

External links

• Town of Kent official website
• Kent Public Library
• History of Kent, New York