Spotlight on History
Why is Kent’s South End called the ‘first in diversity’?
African-Americans and European immigrants settled the South End because they weren’t allowed to live anywhere else. Today, Kent finally honors the neighborhood.
By Roger Di Paolo
In 1903, an editorial in the Kent Courier observed that “the train loads of immigrants that pass through Kent almost daily” on the railroads running through the community “lead to the oft-expressed sentiment that foreign immigration should be restricted.”
The commentator lauded “good, clean citizens, no matter what country,” but went on to say that “this wholesale … cattle-like bringing-in is getting beyond the limit.”
So much for a welcome. Ironically, many of the European immigrants arriving in Kent in the early 20th century came to the community to work on the railroads, doing difficult, dirty and dangerous jobs that didn’t require more than minimal English, much less literacy.
As African-Americans from the South began to settle in Kent shortly before World War I — again, because they were drawn to the promise of jobs on the railroad — they met with an even colder shoulder. Many lived in makeshift homes in abandoned box cars.
The immigrants and the African-Americans eventually found a home, if not a welcome, in an area of Kent that some called the Flats, but others came to refer to as the South End.
The neighborhood where they were allowed to settle (because other neighborhoods were off-limits) was located between Summit and Cherry streets, west of Water Street and east of Mogadore Road. They were unwelcome elsewhere in Kent.
That area has recently been designated by the City of Kent as the South End Historic District. Signs bearing that designation have been posted on major roads in the neighborhood, using colors symbolizing the communities that settled in the South End, against a background of a train, and bearing the slogan, “First in Diversity.”
The effort to seek historic district status was spearheaded by South End civic leader Doria Daniels with the support of other South End residents, as well as those who share roots in the neighborhood because their immigrant ancestors settled there more than a century ago.
The South End heritage group came before Kent City Council in late 2019 to seek historic district status. Their request was approved unanimously along with funding for signage for the area.
In making their request, supporters noted that the South End is considered by many to be Kent’s Mother Neighborhood, arguably the oldest continuous neighborhood in the city. Many current residents are members of families that have lived there for three or four generations. Others claim roots there.
The South End is rich in history. A portion of it was developed by the abolitionist John Brown in the 1830s. With the advent of what became the Erie Railroad in the late 19th century, many homes there were constructed through the efforts of Marvin Kent — the railroad president for whom Kent is named — to provide housing for railroad workers. Some homes also were constructed with lumber salvaged from boxcars.
The South End was the site of the Erie Railroad car shops along Mogadore Road; many South End residents worked there as well as at the Erie yards, located off Lake Street. It also was the site of the Parsons Lumber Co., which was established on Franklin Avenue in the 1860s and operated for more than 100 years. The Kent Post Office is now located there.
Neighborhood businesses flourished in the South End, including ethnic grocery stores on virtually every corner. African-American entrepreneurs operated barber shops, beauty salons, dry cleaning establishments and confectionaries. Several African-American churches are located there, and ethnic organizations such as the Christopher Columbus Society, an organization for Italian-Americans, also flourished.
During its heyday, it wasn’t uncommon to hear Italian, Polish and other languages spoken in neighborhoods and business establishments.
South School, located near the present site of Holden Elementary School, laid the educational foundation for many residents who learned to read and write English there. A number of South School students went on to earn their doctorates, including educators such as Dr. John Ervin, Dr. Ronald Brown, Dr. Alvin Jones and Dr. Billy Hawkins, current president of Talladega College.
The South End also became a center for community activism. Residents such as Joshua Brown and Albert Peoples were stalwarts in the NAACP and leaders in local efforts seeking racial equality. Another South End resident, Ben Anderson, became the first African-American member of Kent City Council in the 1950s. Joshua Brown also served as a council member in the early 1980s.
Armstrong Hall, located on Franklin Avenue at Oak Street, above Richard Armstrong’s grocery store, became a gathering place for the Democratic Party. It was a rite of passage for political candidates to make their first speeches there.
South End Democratic leaders included Paul Yacavona, an Italian immigrant who came to Kent as a teenager to work as a laborer on the Erie Railroad for 10 cents an hour. Elected to City Council in the 1930s, he served for 42 years. Yacavona lobbied hard for paving streets in the area — dirt roads, outdoor plumbing and community wells were prevalent in the 1930s and ‘40s — and remained a watchdog for the area during his long tenure on council. He was succeeded by John Thomas, who was reared in the South End. The area currently is represented by Robin Turner, another South End son.
When signs for the South End Historic District were unveiled in July, honored guests included 93-year-old Henry Brown, who was born in the South End and has lived there his entire life, and 89-year-old Flora Mare Peoples, a longtime resident. Along with other South End residents and descendants of those who settled there more than 100 years ago, they shared in the pride of the community now recognized as “First in Diversity” in Kent.
Roger Di Paolo traces his Kent roots to the South End, where his Italian immigrant grandparents settled in 1914. All but one of their 10 children were born in the South End.
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