of Calhoun County in 1847. The new name honored John J. Hardin, a former congressman and a colonel in the First Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, who was killed earlier that year in the Mexican–American War. Hardin became the seat of Calhoun County after the county courthouse had burned down in Gilead. The seat was temporarily moved to Hamburg, but after an offer from Benjamin Childs of five acres of land and fifty thousand bricks for the new courthouse, as well as a free barbeque dinner, it was decided in a vote that the county seat would be moved in 1847. Notable people Thomas D. Bare (1867–1931), Illinois newspaper editor and state senator, lived in Hardin Jerry Corbett (1917–1997), businessman, baseball player, and politician, was born in Hardin Bill McGee (1909–1987), major league baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants References External links Great River Road: Hardin Masonic Lodge of Hardin Villages in Calhoun County, Illinois Villages in Illinois County seats in Illinois