Alta Mira

Anderson is on State Highway 90 and Farm roads 149 and 1774 ten miles northeast of Navasota in central Grimes County. Bidai, Coushatta, and Kickapoo Indians roamed this area before the arrival of Stephen F. Austin's first settlers. Francis Holland, one of the first settlers in the area, received his deed to a league of land from Austin on August 10, 1824. In 1833 Henry Fanthorp purchased the east quarter of Holland's league for twenty-five cents an acre and built a corn-storage building that served also as a dwelling and grain market. In 1834 he built a larger, dog-run house to live in. In order to take advantage of the stage lines, he enlarged this dwelling into a tavern known as the Fanthorp Inn. Mail was delivered here weekly, starting in 1835; the inn was thus the first post office in what was to be Grimes County.

In 1846 Grimes County was organized, and Fanthorp offered land for the county seat. In the following election a site between Alto Mira and Randolph was chosen. It was named Anderson, in honor of Kenneth L. Anderson, last vice president of the Republic of Texas, who had recently died at the Fanthorp Inn. In time the community encompassed Alto Mira, Randolph, and the inn.