By DEBERA CARLTON HARRELL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Historians say today's Kent was once beneath the sea. Whales cavorted where packing plants, warehouses and companies such as Boeing's space and defense center now lie. An estimated 5,000 years ago, an eruption on Mount Rainier sent a steaming avalanche of mud and rock -- later called the Osceola Mudflow -- into the sea. Over time, the course of the mountain-fed White River changed, cutting northward toward present-day Kent.

The White River created the fertile alluvial plain that gave the Kent-Auburn area its original name: White River Valley. In the mid-1800s, early white settlers were drawn here by the lush farmland, eventually fighting with Indians over the land.

Waves of settlers eventually out-populated the natives, clearing the land of timber to make way for farms. Like the natives, settlers fished the river for all variety of salmon.

Becvar's great-great-grandfather was the town's first mayor and namesake, James Titus. Until 1890, Kent was called Titusville. Having become such a successful hops-growing area, the town was renamed in honor of another hops region: Kent County, England.

In the early 1890s, an infestation of hops lice destroyed that business, sinking many prosperous hops growers and dealers. Hard economic times followed, as valley farms went into foreclosure and other businesses such as banks failed. In 1896, Kent's population fell from 1,000 to about 600.

Dairy farming became the dominant industry in the late 1800s. The first can of Carnation milk was produced in Kent in 1899. Today, cattle and horses have all but disappeared.

In 1914, a reinforced concrete dam was built at Auburn to divert the White River south to mitigate flooding. Historians say this "landmark engineering project" meant the people of Kent were no longer living in the White River Valley but the Green River Valley. A former tributary, the Green River shifted into the old White River channel and flowed north to Elliott Bay.

Farming remained the valley's dominant industry until 1963, when the Howard Hanson Dam was completed on the upper Green River. Although rail links were in place and Boeing was thriving in Renton, it was the dam that turned the flood-prone valley into prime real estate for homes, shopping centers and commercial development. It was later viewed with bitter irony by the descendants of valley farmers who had supported the project as a boon to agriculture.

Becvar was among the 119 students in Kent-Meridian High School's first graduating class in 1952. The total population of Kent was 3,200. Like many Kent residents, Becvar eventually worked at Boeing -- for 35 years. Boeing opened its aerospace plant in Kent in 1965.

In the 1960s, the completion of Interstate 5 and Interstate 405 and modernization of SeaTac Airport meant Kent was a strategic link in the regional transportation system. The future, voter-approved regional transit system will also stop at Kent.

Continued:

• City now grows on once-fertile farmland
• Thriving Kent works to keep community of neighborhoods
• Longtime residents keep rich history alive
• 'Nice town' feel endures despite growth