After the revolution of 1836 the area was split between the jurisdictions of Liberty and Jefferson counties. By 1858 the region's population had increased sufficiently to warrant establishment of its own county government. In response, the state legislature established Hardin County, drawing territory from both the parent counties, early in that year. Legislators specified that the county's name honor the Hardin family of Liberty and instructed that the county seat, to be located within five miles of the center, also bear that name. After the election of Hampton J. Herrington as chief justice (i.e., county judge), the first session of the county court convened outdoors under an enormous dogwood tree. A log courthouse was completed in 1859 and followed later by a frame structure. Hardin remained the county seat until the mid-1880s. In 1881 the Sabine and East Texas Railroad bypassed that community in favor of its own newly established town, Kountze, two miles east of Hardin. -Handbook of Texas Online: Hardin County