Hardin County, Ohio

Hardin County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Kenton
Year Organized: 1820
Square Miles: 470

Court House:

One Courthouse Square, Suite 100
County Courthouse
Kenton, OH 43326

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Residents named the county in honor of John Hardin, a hero of the American Revolution.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On February 12, 1820, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Hardin County. Residents named the county in honor of John Hardin, a hero of the American Revolution. Previously, the county had been part of land reserved to Ohio's Indian people, under the Treaty of Greeneville.

Hardin County is located in northwestern Ohio. It is predominantly rural, with less than one percent of the county's 470 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county seat is Kenton, named for backwoodsmen Simon Kenton. With a population of 8,336 people, Kenton was the county's largest community in 2000. Many residents of Ohio's rural communities are seeking better lives and more opportunities in the state's cities, but Hardin County's population seems to be remaining stable. The county experienced a 2.7 percent population growth rate between 1990 and 2000, bringing the total number of residents up to 31,945. The county averages sixty-eight people per square mile.

Farming is the largest employer in Hardin County, with manufacturing businesses and retail positions following closely behind. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was almost twenty thousand dollars, with 11.5 percent of the people living in poverty.

Most voters in Hardin County claim to be independents, yet in recent years, they have overwhelmingly supported Republican Party candidates at the national level.

The county is home to Ohio Northern University.

Sources

Hardin County, Ohio History Central, July 23, 2008,

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1940&nm=Hardin-County

Neighboring Counties:

Hancock County (north)
Wyandot County (northeast)
Marion County (east)
Union County (southeast)
Logan County (south)
Auglaize County (southwest)
Allen County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Ada	village	Incorporated Area
- Alger	village	Incorporated Area
- Blanchard	township
- Buck	township
- Cessna	township
- Dudley	township
- Dunkirk	village	Incorporated Area
- Forest	village	Incorporated Area
- Hale	township
- Kenton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Liberty	township
- Lynn	township
- McGuffey	village	Incorporated Area
- Mount Victory	village	Incorporated Area
- Patterson	village	Incorporated Area
- Pleasant	township
- Ridgeway	village	Incorporated Area
- Roundhead	township
- Taylor Creek	township

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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