Biohazard Cleanup Near Willow Ridge Kent, WA

Kent is a city in King County, Washington, in the Green River valley between Seattle and Tacoma, and it was officially incorporated on May 28, 1890, making it the second city incorporated in King County after Seattle.

Kent was originally called Titusville, after early settler James Henry Titus, and a 'Titusville Station' sign still stands on Gowe Street in the modern city.

In 1889 the town was renamed Kent for the County of Kent in England, the major hop-producing region there, after hop pioneer Ezra Meeker suggested the name because the valley was the 'Hop Capitol of the West.'

During the 1880s Kent's economy ran on hops, which commanded high prices after an aphid invasion devastated European crops, but an aphid invasion of the White River Valley in 1891 ended the boom.

During and after the Great Depression, Kent was known as the 'Lettuce Capital of the World' for the produce grown in its fertile valley soil.

Flooding from the Green and White Rivers plagued Kent for decades until the Howard A. Hanson Dam was completed at Eagle Gorge in 1962, opening the valley floor to large-scale industrial development.

The 2020 census counted 136,588 people in Kent living in 47,058 households, making it the sixth-most populous city in Washington and one of the largest cities in King County.

Boeing opened its Kent Space Center in 1964, and the Lunar Roving Vehicles driven on the Moon during the Apollo program were built at the Kent plant.

Kent is a hub for the space industry, hosting the corporate headquarters of Blue Origin and Stoke Space, along with headquarters for Oberto Sausage Company, Seattle Bicycle Supply, and Omax Corporation.

The Kent Valley's manufacturing and distribution industry ranks fourth among such markets in the United States, filling former farmland with warehouses drawn by the city's central location in the Seattle metropolitan area.