A history of Anthon,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Anthon from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story so far
from Wikipedia & the U.S. CensusAnthon is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Sioux City, IA–NE–SD Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 545 at the 2020 census. Anthon was home to Charles Osborne, who had the hiccups continuously for 68 years, and was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. It was also home to eunuchoidal giant Bernard Coyne, who was over 8 feet (243 cm) tall. Anthon was named for J. C. Anthon, a railroad engineer. It was founded in 1888.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 565 to 545 (-4%). Half of its homes were built before 1953.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Anthon yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Anthon’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewLivestock shelter on Charles Bant…, 1936: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Anthon, decade by decade
LOCLivestock shelter on Charles Banta farm near Anthon, Iowa1936
LOCCradle on William McDermott farm near Anthon, Iowa1936
LOCHouse on William McDermott farm near Anthon, Iowa1936
LOCToilet on the William McDermott farm near Anthon, Iowa1936
LOCA Democrat wagon on William Walling farm near Anthon, Iowa1936
LOCOne of the three hogs on the William McDermott farm near An…19361990s
Nothing in Anthon is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Anthon has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is George A. and Mary Tinkel Bailey House in Correctionville, 7.7 miles away.
Anthon and the nearest listed places
Closest to Anthon
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Livestock shelter on Charles Banta farm near Anthon, Iowa (1936) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom the Library of Congress (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.