Hardin County was created in 1858, and its first official county building was probably a two-story log structure that burned about 1886, destroying early county records. In 1887, architect Frank Smith of Beaumont designed a two-story frame courthouse built in Kountze by local contractor W.B. Pedigo, with a safe positioned inside the structure and the walls built around it. That building was replaced in 1905, when J.B. Hooks moved the old courthouse across the street for use as the J.B. Hooks Abstract Company and a new masonry courthouse was erected. Designed by Andrew P. Bryan and built by M.J. Lewman and Company, the 1905 courthouse was domed in the tradition of the nation's capitol and the Texas State Capitol and was constructed of native stone from the Pecos area of West Texas, salmon-colored brick from the Hydraulic Press Brick Company of St. Louis, and columns and bases crafted by Bedford Stone Company. A carbide lighting system was installed in 1918. This three-story colonial-style sandstone building, with four 24-foot two-story columns front and back and 16 smaller columns supporting the dome, served until 1958. In that year, a modern facility planned by Dickson-Dickson and Associates and built by Lumbeck Construction Company was completed. The 1905 courthouse was destroyed in 1960. At the end of the 20th century, the 1958 courthouse was still in service, and the 1887 building still stood near the courthouse square as the home of law offices.