diff --git a/doc/users/whats_new/anchoredsizebar_fill_argument.rst b/doc/users/whats_new/anchoredsizebar_fill_argument.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d30a85ec121f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/users/whats_new/anchoredsizebar_fill_argument.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+Add fill argument to `AnchoredSizeBar`
+--------------------------------------
+
+The mpl_toolkits class :class:`~mpl_toolkits.axes_grid1.anchored_artists.AnchoredSizeBar`
+now has an additional ``fill`` argument, which makes the rectangle solid instead of just
+drawing the border of the rectangle. The default is False.
diff --git a/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/anchored_artists.py b/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/anchored_artists.py
index ac5eaf29039e..358f12f835e0 100644
--- a/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/anchored_artists.py
+++ b/lib/mpl_toolkits/axes_grid1/anchored_artists.py
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ def __init__(self, transform, size, label, loc,
                  pad=0.1, borderpad=0.1, sep=2,
                  frameon=True, size_vertical=0, color='black',
                  label_top=False, fontproperties=None,
-                 **kwargs):
+                 fill=False, **kwargs):
         """
         Draw a horizontal scale bar with a center-aligned label underneath.
 
@@ -295,6 +295,9 @@ def __init__(self, transform, size, label, loc,
         fontproperties : `matplotlib.font_manager.FontProperties`, optional
             Font properties for the label text.
 
+        fill : bool, optional
+            Sizebar rectangle fill. Defaults to False.
+
         **kwargs :
             Keyworded arguments to pass to
             :class:`matplotlib.offsetbox.AnchoredOffsetbox`.
@@ -336,7 +339,7 @@ def __init__(self, transform, size, label, loc,
         """
         self.size_bar = AuxTransformBox(transform)
         self.size_bar.add_artist(Rectangle((0, 0), size, size_vertical,
-                                           fill=False, facecolor=color,
+                                           fill=fill, facecolor=color,
                                            edgecolor=color))
 
         if fontproperties is None and 'prop' in kwargs: