A Name Built
Over Decades
"Family, friends, and community trumped money and prestige. That was Don's way. It's Les's way too."
The Hardin name in construction starts with Samuel Leslie Hardin, and runs through his son Don — one of the most respected builders in Cass County history. Don learned the trade in 1945 as a carpenter's helper under two self-taught master carpenters, Lute Young and John Eshelman. He earned his union journeyman card in 1951 on the strength of their letters of recommendation — letters he said meant more to him than anything he ever received.
Don went on to work IU Memorial Stadium, a Chrysler Transmission Plant, and Bunker Hill Air Force Base barracks. He was offered the superintendent's job on Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium and turned it down to stay in Galveston. He started Don L. Hardin INC in 1980, built and remodeled schools across Indiana for decades, and before he passed in 2018 at 93, had his memoirs published — Home of the Heartland.
Les Hardin grew up watching his father build. He started Hardin Construction in 1982 and has been at it ever since — over 40 years of homes, remodels, storm repairs, and church work across Cass and Howard County. No big crews. No corporate contracts. The same honest standard the family has always held.