Formed August 21, 1876 (201st county)
Kent County (753), Jayton (506)
The Jayton courthouse was built in 1957 on Texas State Highway 70 between 3rd and 4th streets. A tan brick and concrete Modern building, Wyatt C. Hedrick provided the design. Clairemont had the original courthouse from the August 21, 1876 county organization. The current courthouse is the second to serve the county. The county was created from Bexar County as the 201st county. Kent County was named for Andrew Kent, who died at the Alamo. The county seat was named for two local settlers, James B. and R. A. Jay.
Kent County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners. One District Court Judge serves Kent, Haskell, Stonewall, and Throckmorton counties and One County Court Judge serves Kent County. The county is located in the panhandle, northwest of Abilene, Texas and southeast of Lubbock, Texas. Two forks of the Brazos River cross the county from west to east. The county center is 11.2 miles West of Jayton nearer Clairemont. The county is surrounded clockwise by Dickens, King, Stonewall, Fisher, Scurry, Garza, and Crosby counties.
The area of the county is 902 square miles. It is 143 out of 254 in the state. It ranks 249 out of 254 in population in the state. It has a density of 0.8 persons per square mile making it 245 out of 254 in the state. Kent County has 67.2% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 380 goes from Stonewall County, on the east, into Garza County, on the west. The county is square and Jayton is in the extreme eastern part of the county. Jayton is the county seat and, as the only incorporated city, it is the largest city. It is 67.2% of the county population.
Jayton
