Kent

Formed August 8, 1683 (3^rd county)

Kent County (181,856), Dover (39,421)

A Modern style red brick and concrete structure replaced the 1874 courthouse.  The 2011 courthouse is located at Federal Street at Martin Luther King Boulevard.  The site is two blocks east of United States Highway 13 Business.  Moeckell Carbonell/Rici Green Associates are the building architects.  The structure features columns and sits across from the Capitol green.  An Administrative building was built in 2005.  Kent County was the birthplace of 11 Delaware Governors, Caesar Rodney, Joshua Clayton, James Sykes, George Truitt, Jacob Stout, William Tharp, Gove Saulsbury, John W. Hall, William D. Denney, J. Caleb Boggs, and Charles L. Terry, Jr.  The county was formed on August 8, 1683 as St. Jones County out of parts of New Castle and Sussex counties as the 3^rd and final county.  In 1777 it was renamed Kent County with Dover as the only county seat.  The county was named for the region in England.  Dover was named for Dover, England.  The Delaware state capitol is located in this county.  The center of the county is 5.4 miles South-Southwest of Dover nearer Camden. 

Kent County government consists of a sheriff, recorder, and administrator (executive).  It has 7 Levy Court Members (legislative.)  Three Superior Court Judges and Four Common Pleas Judges, clerk, and county attorney serve Kent County (judicial.)  The county is the middle one of three bordering New Jersey (across the Delaware River) and Maryland.  The geographical center of Delaware is 11 miles south of Dover in the county.  The county is surrounded clockwise by New Castle County and New Jersey and Sussex County and Maryland. 

The area of the county is 586 square miles.  It is 2 out of 3 in the state.  It ranks 3 out of 3 in population in the state.  It has a density of 310.3 persons per square mile making it 2 out of 3 in the state.  Kent County has 41.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 13 crosses north to south through the county, New Castle County to Sussex County.  United States Highway 113 originates at Dover and goes south into Sussex County.  The county is shaped like a loaf of bread sitting on its side.  Dover is near the middle of the county.  Dover is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 21.7% of the county population.  The county is in the Dover Metropolitan Statistical Area.