[4] The county is named for Col. John Hardin, a Continental Army officer during the American Revolution and a brother of the Capt.

The economy of Hardin County is largely dominated by the adjacent Fort Knox Military Installation.

[14] The Army Human Resource Center, the largest construction project in the history of Fort Knox, began in November 2007.

As many as 2,100 new permanent human resources, information technology, and administrative white-collar civilian professionals will be working there.

Officials expect that as many as 12,000 people, including the families of soldiers and civilian workers to relocate to the area as a result of the Fort Knox realignment of 2005.

In the case of Hardin County, Elizabethtown, Radcliff, and Vine Grove all voted to allow off-premises sales in October 2011.

West Point has voted to allow sale of alcohol by the drink in restaurants that seat at least 50 and derive at least 70% of their revenue from food (including non-alcoholic beverages).

[16] The formal government structure of Hardin County consists of a Fiscal Court along with six incorporated cities.

The growth of the area and the changes expected due to the realignment of Fort Knox led to the study.

[18] Law enforcement and property tax collection are provided by the Hardin County Sheriff's Office.

[22] Fort Knox however is assigned to the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA),[22] which, through its Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools subagency, operates four schools on the Fort Knox base for military dependents.

[25] A new $16-million Fort Knox High School, a two-story, state-of-the-art facility that united the existing vocational school with the current gymnasium, creating a connected campus was completed in 2008, with dedication on August 7, 2008.