Visitors Guide to Anna
Union County, Illinois

With the coming of the Illinois Central came the development of the "Little Egypt" country of Illinois. Recruited labor for the railroad in the East brought workers with their families into the territory. In the early 1850s the Illinois Central began a railroad line that would run from Cairo at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to Chicago. In 1853 the Board of Trustees at Jonesboro decided that since Jonesboro was the only town in Union County that the railroad could pass through, it would not be necessary to comply with the request of the company to make a survey of the route and donate their findings to the railroad company. During that year 1853 Winstead Davie, who then owned the most of the land which is now the site of the City of Anna, and Colonel Lewis T. Ashley, Division Engineer of the railroad, who had come into possession of a portion of the same tract, determined to lay out a town at this point. Winstead Davie seemed to think the request for a survey was important so he paid the $50 for it himself. On March 3, 1854 a town was platted and named in honor of Davie’s wife Anna. Later when the Jonesboro Trustees decided that it was necessary to comply with the company's request in order to have the road laid through their town, the Illinois Central had already accepted the survey presented to them by Davie. The railroad would, however, persist in calling the town "Jonesboro Station," much to the displeasure of Anna’s citizens.

The progress of the city was steady and by 1856 Anna had both a passenger station and a freight depot. The Illinois Central Railroad became a successful corporation and Anna benefitted by its relationship with it. The principal crops raised in the region before the coming of the railroad were grains that could be profitably fed to live stock or hauled to the river landing. After the railroad opened the markets, the fruits came largely into cultivation. Gardening and the growing of early vegetables also became. Other crops, also the subject of experiment, were cotton, tobacco, barley, flax, and hemp. In the late 19th and early 20th century lumber was an industry in the region. The lumber business faded as most of the timber was cut down and what was left was set aside by the state to preserve the regions natural state.

In 1878 the Southern Illinois Fair Association of Anna was organized under special act of Legislature. They bought 5 4 acres of land on the present site of Anna Fairgrounds. Agricultural fairs have been held annually since 1879 and Anna is the site of the Union County Fair. During the Great Depression the Works Progress Administration furnished men and money for public works. Anna and Union County used these resources in building the Anna City Market, country roads, the Ravine Theater at Community High School, repairs on Anna City Hall and County Court House and paving of streets. A Civilian Conservation Corps camp was built at the Anna Fairgrounds in 1937 and later moved to a nearby forest preserve.

Explore the Meeting the Ohio River Region