Kicking It in Kent County

Bluebonnets

Kent County is one of the smallest in Texas with a population of 763; and that number is dropping. This 903 square mile (2,339 km²) county is located in northwest Texas amidst the open prairie and mesquite woodland. It’s one of six prohibition or entirely dry counties in the state.

This grassland, with its abundance of wildlife, was first occupied by Paleo-Indians in about 8000 BC. Native Americans, generally bands of

First floor of the original courthouse, now
the Clairemont Community Center

Comanche, wandered the area for hundreds of years. With the influx of settlers, there was sure to be conflict and in 1872 Ranald S. Mackenzie and his soldiers fought the Comanches at Treasure Butte. Four years later the Texas legislature formed Kent County out of Young and Bexar districts; the new county was named after Andrew Kent, an Alamo defender. One of the early settlements, Clairemont, was created in 1888 by cattleman R. L. Rhomberg who named the town after his daughter, Claire. Ranchers were attracted to the open land on which to graze their cattle, but so were farmers, since the land was fertile. And of course, the farmers didn’t want the cattle on their crops, so in 1891 there was a range war between the ranchers and farmers because of fencing. Evidently the conflict was settled quickly since, a year later, Kent County governance was organized with Clairmont as the county seat. In 1893 a two-story brick courthouse was designed by the firm of Martin, Byrnes, and Johnston in the Italianate style. The courthouse burned, leaving standing only the first floor, which is now the Clairemont Community Center.

By 1900 the county population had grown to almost 900 people, larger

First National Bank Building

than the population is now. In fact it was populous enough to attract the attention of the Stamford and Northwestern Railway which built a line crossing the northeast corner of the county. Eventually the railroad became part of the Wichita Valley Railroad, bypassing Clairemont and sparking the formation of the community of Jayton. However, Jayton was originally called Jay Flat, and was located about two 2 miles northeast of its present location The post office arrived in 1886 with Daniel Jay, a local rancher for whom the town was named, serving as the first postmaster. With the arrival of the railroad in 1907, Jay Flat was moved to improve access to rail service, and officially renamed Jayton. The Jayton Herald began publishing local news and by 1910 the city was incorporated. In 1912 architect Rockwell Henry Stuckey designed the First National Bank. People kept coming to the county for the agricultural opportunities until the county population made it all the way to 3,851 in 1930. However, the year before saw the beginning of the Great Depression with the Dust Bowl following on its heels; from 1930 forward an agricultural decline

Kent County Courthouse

began because this area is substantially ‘dry-land’ farming. The economy didn’t start to rebound until the mid-1940s with the discovery of oil. And although this discovery was productive into the 1990s, the death knell for Clairemont had already sounded. In 1952 Jayton was proposed as the county seat, and with Clairemont all but abandoned by 1954, the courts finally named Jayton the county seat. The new county courthouse was built in 1956 in what is loosely called the Modern Style, with Wyatt C. Hedrick serving as architect.

L to R: Kent County Jail, Original Cells

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