Kent's Flanders District, at the center of the First Division of land, housed the original Proprietors. Cobble Brook provided water and power for forges, a tannery, cider, grist, fulling, and sawmills. Here stood the first two churches, the school, general store, trading post, butcher and blacksmith shops, brickyard, animal pound, burial ground, and parade ground. Barzillai Slosson (1769-1812), Kent's first lawyer and historian, was born and lived here, and Birdsey Grant Northrop (1817-1898), an educator, champion of Arbor Day, and founder of Village Improvement Societies, also lived here.