On July 1, a new exhibit opened up at the Kent Historical Society that doesn’t just focus on the past, but the future of the city.

“Since we moved in here in 2011, we’ve been looking to set up how we can show the complete history of Kent,” Sandy Halem, a volunteer at the Historical Society, said.

According to Halem, the two-story building contains an early Kent exhibit and a combined twentieth and twenty-first century room. The contemporary room features an exhibit of the Davey Tree Company, which is a prominent company in the area. The company started in 1880 and is now one of the biggest tree care companies in North America.

“They were the first company to advocate for the keeping of trees, rather than the taking down of trees,” Halem said.

The room also includes a May 4, 1970 exhibit to commemorate the four students shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard on Kent campus during a protest of the Vietnam War.

“But what we’re really trying to do is not only look at the past,” Halem said. “But the present and future. With this new exhibit, that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

The new exhibit, called “Modern Vision,” focuses on liquid crystals and their importance in the city of Kent. 

“We had some things donated that are liquid crystal, from Kent Displays and Alpha Micron, two companies that work with liquid crystal technology,” she said.

Liquid crystal is a material between the solid and liquid state, according to a sign at the exhibit. These materials are able to be manipulated by heat and magnets to create things such as laptops and calculators.

“The reason that Kent is thriving where many small towns are not, is because we keep reinventing ourselves,” Halem said. “One of the things to reinvent ourselves is new businesses, such as Kent Displays and Alpha Micron.”

Companies such as Kent Displays have made world-renowned research and development on liquid crystals and also invented the reusable writing tablet, the Boogie Board.

“We’re trying to focus on the fact that history isn’t just about the past,” Halem said. “It’s about the present and those things that will become our future. The present right now will be our history.”

The exhibit is free and open to the public 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Destiny Torres is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].