The story
Read it all →How Anita came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Anita.
A violent F5 tornado occurred just east of the town on June 27, 1953. One person was killed and two others were injured.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Anita
Anita’s post office opened in 1868, and 50% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1901 on and the census since 1880.
1868first post office
0on the National Register
50%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Anita began
When was Anita founded?
1868
The Anita post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 479 in 18802020 census: 963158 years
Founding year: the first Anita post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Anita’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Anita’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Anita’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Every building
Anita, building by building, 1901–1918
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1901Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Anita in 1884
Passages that mention Anita, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Cass County, Iowa1884 · page 421Read the page →
Read the text
In January, 1874, a class of the worshipers according to the tenets of this denomination, was formed at the town of Anita, with Rev. William Reed, as pastor. The Anita circuit was formed at the annual conference which met at Winterset, Madison county the following May, and this congregation became the center of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cass County, Iowa1884 · page 683Read the page →
Read the text
sections 22, 28, 29 and 31, leaving Grant on the west line of the latter. There is one station on this line in the township, at the thriving city of Anita, on sections 21 and 28, which is noted further on. There is but little timber in Grant township, the only considerable body being what is known as Morrison's Grove,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Anita, 1868 to 1971
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1868Post officeThe Anita post office opens
- 1881
Born hereStuart Sherman is born here - 20th century
- 1971
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Anita, decade by decade
2021
2020
2004On the map
Anita on the map, 1971 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Anita. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1971Anita sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Anita.
People over time
Anita, census by census
Between 479 and 1,236 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Anita’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Anita’s history
What year was Anita founded?
The Anita post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.