In 1832, John Charles Beales and Jose Manuel Royella were granted the section where Hartley is now located under colonization laws of Mexico and Texas.

In 1875, the Texas Legislature passed an act which allowed contractors to clear one mile of the river Sabine, Angeline, and Neches, and the Pine Island Bayou in exchange for land grants.

The contractors then received a deed to the uneven numbered sections with the State retaining the even-numbered ones as school lands.

On July 1, 1888, Beaty, Seale, and Forwood sold Section 23 to James A. Hudson of Logan County, Illinois and John A. Lutz of New York for $10,000.00.

Handbills were distributed throughout the eastern and southern states by the owners who were anxious to turn Hartley into a booming metropolis.

A tent city came into being and grew rapidly as people came with high expectations and determination to make for themselves a new life in a new land.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 7.0 square miles (18 km2), all land.