Kenton - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

KENTON, a city and the county seat of Hardin county, Ohio, U.S.A., on the Scioto river, 60 m. N.W. of Columbus. Pop. (5900), 6,852, of whom 493 were foreign-born and 275 were negroes. It is served by the Erie, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, and the Ohio Central railways. It is built on the water-parting between Lake Erie and the Gulf of Mexico, here about I,000 ft. above sea-level. There are shops of the Ohio Central railway here, and manufactories of hardware. The municipality owns and operates its waterworks. Kenton was named in honour of Simon Kenton (1755-1836) a famous scout and Indian fighter, who took part in the border warfare, particularly in Kentucky and Ohio, during the War of American Independence and afterwards. It was platted and became the county seat in 1833, and was chartered as a city in 1885.