Kent County, Delaware

The Kent County courthouse in Dover, Delaware.

**Kent County** is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of the 2010 census, the population was 162,310, making it the least populous county in Delaware. The county seat is Dover, the state capital of Delaware. It is named for Kent, an English county. It is the most populous county in the United States to be the least populous county in a state.

Kent County comprises the Dover, DE Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD Combined Statistical Area.

## History

In about 1670 the English began to settle in the valley of the St. Jones River earlier known as Wolf Creek. On June 21, 1680, The Duke of York chartered St. Jones County, which was carved out of New Amstel/New Castle County and Hoarkill/Sussex County. St. Jones County was transferred to William Penn on August 24, 1682, and became part of Penn's newly chartered Delaware Colony.

Penn ordered a court town to be laid out, and the courthouse was built in 1697. The town of Dover, named after the town of Dover in England's Kent, was finally laid out in 1717, and became the capital of Delaware in 1777. In 1787 Delaware was first to ratify the U.S. Constitution, and became "the First State." Kent County was a small grain farming region in the 18th Century.

More recently, in the 1960s, Dover was the scene of the manufacturing of the spacesuits worn by NASA astronauts in the Apollo moon flights by ILC Dover, now based in the small town of Frederica. The suits, dubbed the "A7L," was first flown on the Apollo 7 mission in October 1967, and was the suit worn by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Apollo 11 mission. The company still manufactures spacesuits to this day—the present-day Space Shuttle "soft" suit components (the arms and legs of the suit).

## Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 798 square miles (2,070 km2), of which 586 square miles (1,520 km2) is land and 212 square miles (550 km2) (26.6%) is water.

Kent County, like all of Delaware's counties, is subdivided into Hundreds. There are several explanations given for how the Hundreds were arrived at, either being an area containing 100 families, an area containing 100 people, or an area that could raise 100 militiamen. Kent County was originally apportioned into six Hundreds: Duck Creek, Little Creek, Dover, Murderkill, Milford and Mispillion. In 1867, the Delaware legislature split Murderkill Hundred into North Murderkill Hundred and South Murderkill Hundred. In 1869, the legislature formed Kenton Hundred from parts of Little Creek and Duck Creek Hundred. Today the county contains eight Hundreds.

### Bordering Counties

#### Delaware

* New Castle County, Delaware
* Sussex County, Delaware

#### Maryland

* Caroline County, Maryland
* Queen Anne's County, Maryland
* Kent County, Maryland

## Demographics

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 162,310 people, 60,278 households, and 42,290 families residing in the county. The population density was 276.9 inhabitants per square mile (106.9/km2). There were 65,338 housing units at an average density of 111.5 per square mile (43.1/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 67.8% white, 24.0% black or African American, 2.0% Asian, 0.6% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 2.0% from other races, and 3.5% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 5.8% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 17.5% were German, 15.4% were Irish, 11.5% were English, 7.2% were Italian, and 5.9% were American.

Of the 60,278 households, 35.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.1% were married couples living together, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.8% were non-families, and 23.6% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.09. The median age was 36.6 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $53,183 and the median income for a family was $60,949. Males had a median income of $43,418 versus $35,603 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,194. About 9.3% of families and 12.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.0% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.

### Amish Community

Kent County is home to an Amish community that resides to the west of Dover, consisting of 9 church districts and between 1,200 and 1,500 people. The Amish first settled in Kent County in 1915. The area is home to several Amish businesses selling items such as Amish food, furniture, quilts, and handmade crafts. Every September, the Amish County Bike Tour, one of the largest cycling events in Delaware, takes place in the area. In recent years, increasing development has led to the decline in the number of Amish living in the community.

## Communities

### Cities

* Harrington
* Milford (partly in Sussex County)

### Towns

* Bowers
* Camden
* Cheswold
* Clayton (partly in New Castle County)
* Farmington
* Felton
* Frederica
* Hartly
* Houston
* Kenton
* Leipsic
* Little Creek
* Magnolia
* Smyrna (partly in New Castle County)
* Viola
* Woodside
* Wyoming

### Census-Designated Places

* Dover Air Force Base
* Highland Acres
* Kent Acres
* Rising Sun-Lebanon
* Riverview
* Rodney Village
* Woodside East

### Misc.

* Andrewville
* Berrytown
* Little Heaven
* Marydel