Highway 69 runs through Kountze, which is the county seat of Hardin County. Two entrepreneurial brothers who were contemporaries and competitors of Arthur Stilwell and “Bet A Million” Gates founded Kountze in 1881. Herman and Augustus Kountze were Nebraska bankers and founders of the Sabine and East Texas railroad. They also had vast timber holdings in Southeast Texas. In 1881 their railroad bypassed the old county seat of Hardin in favor of their newly established town of Kountze, two miles east of Hardin. As a result, Kountze became the county seat of Hardin County around 1886. The brothers donated the land for the new Hardin County courthouse in 1904.

Kountze became an incorporated city in 1947. The average annual rainfall is fifty-three inches. The average low temperature is 42° in January, and the average high is 93° in July. Major employers are KISD, Hardin County courthouse, Brookshire Brothers and Newark Paperboard Cores. In 2002, the city of Kountze constructed a new public library facility. A city park offers a walking track, children’s playground and covered pavilion.

The Big Thicket National Preserve, which boasted 100,000 visitors last year, is located in and around the Kountze area. The numerous nature trails of the Preserve are crowded each year with enthusiastic hikers and off road bikers. The Big Thicket Visitor Center is approximately five miles north of Kountze on the Big Thicket Preserve Parkway. Pristine, sandy-beached Village Creek, near Kountze, offers summer canoeing, fishing, kayaking and boating adventures. In addition, the Kountze area offers excellent birding opportunities. The American Bird Conservancy has designated the Big Thicket National Preserve a “Globally Important Bird Area”. The more sought after birds are the Red cockaded Woodpecker, the Brown-headed Nuthatch, and the Bachman's Sparrow.

Kountze is a short drive from the Golden Triangle area where state of the art medical facilities, job opportunities, and educational resources are accessible. Wildwood Resort City, a gated community, with a 365-acre lake and an 18-hole championship golf course is just nine miles north of Kountze. Subdivisions like Ranchland and Beaumont Colony offer country home sites. Because of Kountze’s close proximity to the growing area around Lumberton, there are plans for additional subdivisions in the coming years.>

The Kountze school district was named the exemplary district in Region 5 and Kountze High School was voted TEA Exemplary Campus for 2000-2003. There are more than twenty churches of various denominations in and around Kountze. All around one can see evidence of the community’s strength, diversity and emphasis on traditional family values.

With a population of 2115, Kountze offers the advantages of small town security and friendliness only minutes away from urban shopping areas and conveniences…truly the best of worlds for vital businesses who want to relocate, those wishing to retire and active, growing families.

There is plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy life in Kountze, Texas.