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.