There was no delivery of mail in the area at this time, and newspapers arrived in town on the train every Friday.The railroad was eventually laid from Des Moines to Ames, via Ankeny.

In the 1940s, amidst World War II, the US federal government vacated and seized farms via eminent domain in 1941 for the construction of a military ordnance plant.

The rest of the land surrounding the plant was purchased by Iowa State University for agricultural research.

[8][10][17] In August 1967, Des Moines Area Community College purchased 240 acres on the southeast of the Iowa State University plot: construction began in 1968 on a new main campus (a.k.a.

[15][18][19] An F4 tornado struck the city in June 1974, along with Des Moines, Pleasant Hill, Runnells, Boundurant, and Carlisle.

[20][21][22][23] In 1989, public and private interests began planning for a local airport in northeast Polk County.

Ankeny Regional Airport, the result of the project, opened in February 1994, with the first flight being a Cessna 182 Skylane.

The year prior, in 2004, the city government requested proposals for a new district called Prairie Trail to be created on the plot.

Later in September 2005, the city sold the land to Dennis Albaugh, whose company submitted the chosen proposal, for the same price.

Most of the area of Ankeny is dry land with a small number of park ponds and streams.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 29.33 square miles (75.96 km2), all land.

The Lobe was formed during the Wisconsin glaciation leaving significant deposits resulting in an area with low relief.

[33] The upper sediments Ankeny sits upon are primarily a variable mixture of silt, sand, gravel, and loam types less than 8 meters in depth.

[42][43] To keep pace with growing population numbers, the city has requested a special census every decade since the 1970s in 1975, 1985, 1994, 2005, and 2014.

Documenting the increased population numbers allowed the city to accrue an estimated $4.5 million more in allocated state funding for road construction and repairs.

The number of businesses in Ankeny for the year totaled 5,089 with $972 million in taxable retail sales.

[1] The largest employers by number of employees are as follows: Ankeny Community Schools (1,965), Deere & Company (1,900), Casey's General Stores (1,260), the City of Ankeny (786), Perishable Distributors of Iowa, Ltd. (687), Des Moines Area Community College (611), Baker Group (560), Purfoods (517), B&G Foods North America (400), and Accumold (350).

[1] The United States Census Bureau estimates that between 2013 and 2017 that 78.7% of the population 16 years old and older were part of the civilian labor force with 73.4% specifically for women.

Of those businesses, the reported industries were 619 construction, 143 wholesale, 547 retail, 198 transportation and warehousing, 93 data and information technology, 279 finance and insurance, 491 real estate and rental, 478 professional, scientific, and technical services, and 248 administrative, supportive, waste management, and remediation.

Many public and private sports organizations and teams base themselves at the complex which serves over 6,500 youth athletes.

The smaller Hawkeye Park Sports Complex features a handful of fields typically used for adult leagues and individual recreational use.

[1][56][57][58] The city puts on a variety of recreational programs year-round, sometimes involving school district facilities, which range from all-ages athletic teams and training, senior citizen activities, seasonal/holiday events, dances, first aid and CPR training, arts and crafts, public yoga, charter bus expeditions, and basic skills.

[1][56][59] Miracle Park, a 14,000 square feet (1,300 m2) playground, is an "all-inclusive" facility specifically designed to accommodate special needs youth.

The current members are Bobbi Bentz (Mayor Pro Tem), Kelly Whiting, Jeff Perry, Todd Shafer, and Joe Ruddy.

[67][68] A portion of southern Ankeny on the edge of the city limits is in the Saydel Community School District.

The school was established in February 1992 and opened its doors in August 1993, moving to its current 1604 West 1st Street location in early 2000.

The Campus currently educates over 15,000 students on their 304-acre plot and offers a large variety of degree, diploma, and certificate programs.

The airport currently claims to be the state's third-busiest and allows corporate, individual, and freight use.

DART), a public transit agency, operates an express bus route between Ankeny and Des Moines.

The route includes stops at DMACC's Ankeny Campus and the High Trestle Trail trailhead in the city.