Ananyev Uyezd was an administrative-territorial unit of Kherson Governorate, with its center in the town of Ananyev.
The uyezd was established by an imperial decree of September 28 (October 31), 1834, upon the submission of the Bessarabian Governor-General. It stipulated: 1) to establish a new Ananyev Uyezd within the boundaries indicated on the map (followed by a detailed description of the Ananyev, Bobrinets, Odessa, and Tiraspol uyezds); 2) to establish the uyezd town in the village of Ananyevo.
In 1887, in Ananyev Uyezd, besides the town of Ananyev, there were 515 inhabited localities. The uyezd covered 7,958 square versts, and had a population of 216,995, including 109,398 males and 107,597 females. The uyezd contained the town of Ananyev, 10 small towns, 52 villages, 256 hamlets, 13 German colonies, 14 settlements, 359 farmsteads, 38 estates, and 6 railway stations. The main occupation of the inhabitants was grain farming (sowings of wheat, maize—especially among Moldovans—and barley). A significant part of the grain was bought up by Jews and exported abroad via Odessa. The main line of the Southwestern Railways ran through the middle of the uyezd, and along its northern edge ran the Elisavetgrad branch of the same railway. Industry was insignificant.
With vast deposits of red clay and sand, the people of Ananyev created in the 19th century a powerful brickworks—a ceramics line that produced bricks not only for the uyezd. That is why most old houses were built of red brick.