Marvin Kent was a railroad president and businessman from Portage County

Portage County, Ohio

Portage County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 152,061 at the 2000 Census and 161,419 at the 2010 Census. Its county seat is Ravenna. Portage County is named for the portage between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas Rivers...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, USA, and namesake of the city of Kent, Ohio

Kent, Ohio

Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeastern Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 27,906 at the 2000 United States Census and 28,904 in the 2010 Census...

, which was previously known as Franklin Mills.

Biography

Marvin Kent was born in Ravenna, Ohio

Ravenna, Ohio

* Chris Bangle; automobile designer* Bill Bower, last surviving pilot of the Doolittle Raid* David D. Busch; best-selling author* William Rufus Day; U.S. Supreme Court justice* Calvin Hampton; Classical organist* Robert B...

, and was heavily involved in the business dealings of his father Zenas Kent from a very young age. During the 1860s he was instrumental in establishing the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad

Atlantic and Great Western Railroad

The Atlantic and Great Western Railroad began as three separate railroads: the Erie and New York City Railroad based in Jamestown, New York; the Meadville Railroad based in Meadville, Pennsylvania ; and the Franklin and Warren Railroad based in Franklin Mills, Ohio...

 and having the railroad shops located in the village of Franklin Mills. The village was named after him shortly thereafter in 1864. Kent also served as a bank president and as an Ohio state senator from the Republican party

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

. He died in Kent, Ohio

Kent, Ohio

Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeastern Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 27,906 at the 2000 United States Census and 28,904 in the 2010 Census...

, in 1908.

Relatives

Kent's father Zenas had several business ventures during the 1830s-1850s in Franklin Mills and briefly operated a tannery

Tanning

Tanning is the making of leather from the skins of animals which does not easily decompose. Traditionally, tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound from which the tanning process draws its name . Coloring may occur during tanning...

 with John Brown

John Brown (abolitionist)

John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...

. He also had considerable land holdings and built a four-story commercial block in what is now downtown Kent in 1837 that was said to have been the tallest building in Ohio at the time. He eventually would relocate to Franklin Mills in 1851. Marvin Kent's son William Stewart Kent played a key role in the establishment of Kent State University

Kent State University

Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...

in 1910 by donating the land for the original campus.