Kent County RI
Kent County is a small county in Rhode
Island made up of 5 small towns; Coventry,
East Greenwich, Warwick, West Greenwich, and
West Warwick. Warwick is the second largest
city in the state of Rhode Island. Warwick
was founded in 1642 by Samuel Gorton after
he purchased the land from a Narragansett
Indian Chief.
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There is a lot of controversy that
surrounded that land deal, but in the end
the land still remained in control of Gorton
and was named after the Earl that granted
him the charter. Most of the major
historical events that happened in Rhode Island over the past 300 years have
involved this city in some way. Most notably of these events is the key role
that Warwick itself and its townsmen played in the American Revolutionary War.
Throughout the Revolution, the brave militia
men of Warwick are recoded in history as
being key members of the battles of
Montreal, Quebec, Saratoga, Monmouth,
Trenton, Rhode Island, and were in Yorktown
to see the final surrender. |
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West Warwick used to be a part of the larger
city Warwick almost 100 years ago. There was
a difference in political opinions between
the Democrats and Republicans forcing the
split of the two areas.
Coventry lies to the west of West Warwick.
This is one of the larger towns in the
county taking up about 68 square miles of
land. Back in the 1900’s the land was mostly
industrialized with different factories
built throughout the town. The town lost
most of its businesses as the railroad
closed down and soon became one of the most
popular suburban areas to live in. In the
present day, tourism has grown to become the
main cash cow of the area as the residents
fight to preserve their historic lands from
a personal and financial stand point.
East Greenwich is the wealthiest town in
Rhode Island and is remembered for being the
first to form a government authorized navy
in the Western Hemisphere.
West Greenwich is the last of the towns that
make up Kent County. This small community
has been in the spotlight recently because
of the new proposal of West Greenwich and
its neighbors regarding the combination of
all of their rural areas. This proposal
calls for a new town, “Westconnaug", to be
formed representing the areas of West
Greenwich, Exeter, Foster, Glocester, and
the western part of Coventry. If this
legislation passes, it will form a new super
town by combining all of the small rural
governments into one governing body.
Kent County stands out as an important part
of Rhode Island in more ways then one. Even
though it doesn’t share a lot of the
historic events of the sea border areas,
doesn’t mean this blossoming county isn’t
making history of its own.
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