CHAPTER XII.
GRANT TOWNSHIP (CONT'D).

CITY SCHOOLS.

In March, 1876 (the year following the incorporation of Anita as a city), the Independent School District of Anita was organized to embrace sections 15, 16, 21, 22, 27, 28, 33 and 34. The first school board, elected on the 31st of March, 1876, was as follows: L. P. Frost, president; E. Davis, secretary; John Moreland, treasurer; H. C. Saunders, R. Davis and L. P. Frost, directors. The first to teach under their direction were Charles H. Whitmore and Mrs. M. J. Campbell.

THE POSTOFFICE.

The postoffice at Anita was established, in 1869, and Lewis Beason was commissioned postmaster; but he resigned the following year and was succeeded by M. Bach. In 1873, under Mr. Bach's administration, it was made a money order office. The first order was issued to George Sessions; made payable to Shepard & Company, of Battle Creek, Mich., and was for $15.25. Mr. Bach continued as postmaster until 1878.

In July, 1876, C. M. Myers established the Bank of Anita, a thorough business man and the first to enter the financial field at this point. The first really substantial hotel was built by Frank H. Whitney, in the summer of 1878. It was a well finished frame building, three stories in height, thirty by seventy feet in dimensions, and F. M. Buckles was the first landlord of what was long known as the Whitney House.

In the fall of 1877 Charles F. Chase and Claude Faust established the first newspaper, the "Anita Times."

In December, 1883, Dr. V. D. Rood opened Opera Hall, for amusements and public gatherings, it being the first building of the kind in the city. It was opened by an entertainment given by Meade Post, No. 50, G. A. R., which had been organized two years before.

THE FIRST SERMON AND LODGES.

The first sermon in Anita was preached by Rev. Mr. Abraham, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1870, his "church" being Frank H. Whitney's building, also used for school purposes. The old fraternities commenced to organize a few years afterward, Anita Lodge, No. 262, I. O. O. F., being instituted September 29, 1873. Its charter members were James P. James, Martin Bach, John Travis, J. W. Chestnut, A. J. Schrader, Anthony Koob and Oliver Coomes. Obedience Lodge No. 380, A. F. & A. M., was organized November 6, 1876, with the following members: E. A. Stone, G. W. Chafee, J. T. Fitch, M. Bach, J. Moreland, John Travis, J. P. James, J. J. Scoville, R. W. Calkins and John B. Vetter. Emmert Lodge No. 192, A. O. U. W. was organized by Dr. J. M. Emmert, of Atlantic, int he spring of 1879, and Anita Lodge, Iowa Knights of Honor, by Harry Merriam, on the 30th of August, 1883.

The Pearl Grist Mill, at Anita, was erected by Jacob Kuhn in 1877, at a cost of about $5,000. It was afterward owned by S. C. Rood & Company; was twenty-four by forty feet on the ground with two additions, had a daily capacity of eighty barrels of flour, and was one of the leading industries of the city.

"Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pg. 154-155.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, July, 2018.