A settlement grew up at Fort Phantom Hill in the late 1870s but moved to the current site (about fifteen miles northwest of the fort), known as Jones City, when the county was organized in 1881. John Merchant donated land for a town in the hope that the Texas and Pacific Railway would build through the area, but it went through Abilene to the south instead. Jones City was made county seat in 1881 due to its central location in the county and was renamed Anson in 1882. After the Abilene and Northern Railway Company built a line from Stamford to Abilene through Anson in 1907, the town served as a central supply center and benefited from oil discoveries in the 1920s and 1950s.
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