Extracted from 1839 edition of the

AND TRAVELER’S GUIDE
A description of the several towns, townships and counties, with their water courses, roads, improvements, mineral production, etc.

Franklin, one of the central townships of Portage County, in which the village of Carthage, and Franklin Mills, are situated, containing about 1,500 inhabitants, who like the population of the Western Reserve generally, are emigrants from the New England states and their descendants. The soil of Franklin is, what is generally, called oak land, being a mixture of clay, sand and gravel, and is better adapted to the raising of grain than grass. The Cuyahoga River which is not surpassed by any other stream in the state of its size for hydraulic purposes, enters the township of Franklin near the northeast corner and passes out at the southwest. The Pennsylvania & Ohio canal, whose summit is supplied by water from this river—falls into it at the glass factory, near the center of the township, by a lock constructed in the rock bank at the river, and passing down the stream through Carthage, passes out at the lower village. The valuable mill sites at the upper and lower villages, have both recently been purchased, including a considerable tract of land, by a wealthy company, for about 120,000 dollars, and both sites are to be made into one, constituting a fall of about 20 feet, for the better accommodation of the canal, and propelling machinery on a more extensive scale.

The company have laid out and surveyed an extensive village, joining the upper and lower villages together, and are now engaged at a considerable expense in grading and forming the principal streets, and constructing a splendid bridge across the river near the site of the new dam.

There are at present in operation in this township, two woolen factories, two grist mills, two saw mills, and one oil mill, besides several other establishments of minor importance. There is a post office in the township by the name of Franklin Mills, at which the Pittsburgh and Cleveland mail is opened daily. From this office by a weekly side mail, the post office in the adjoining town of Brimfield is supplied.

This description highlights the beginning of an economic boom that lasted for twenty years—for the village that became Kent, Ohio.