Effingham, Illinois: Two Stories and No Proof

Effingham, Illinois, carries a county name that its own 1883 county history couldn’t explain, and the two stories told about it point to different men. The city took the name from the county, which got it in 1831, long before the railroads came.

Two Effinghams, and a shrug

The county was created by an act of February 15, 1831. When William Henry Perrin edited the county’s history in 1883, he wrote: “Why the county was named Effingham is not known.” The bill, he says, was the work of Gen. W. L. D. Ewing, William Linn and Joseph Duncan, “and it is said the name was the suggestion of Gen. Ewing.” Ewing got a town out of it too: the first county seat, Ewington, was named for him.

The Illinois Central’s booklet on its station names, by William K. Ackerman, has a confident answer. It says the city and county “were named after General Effingham, an Englishman by birth, who was the United States Surveyor, and laid out the county.” Henry Gannett’s 1905 place-name book for the Geological Survey is much more careful. “The origin of the name is in doubt,” he writes. It has been said the county was named for “Gen. Edward Effingham, a surveyor,” or it “may have been named for Lord Effingham, an officer in the British army, who resigned his commission rather than fight against the American colonies.”

So you’ve got a surveyor in one account, a British lord in another, and a local historian who simply didn’t know. None of these sources shows the paper that settles it, which is why the question stays open here.

Broughton, the railroad and the courthouse

The town itself started under another name. Perrin says the original town “was called ‘Broughton,’ and was named for Mr. Brough, an ‘Ohio man,’” later governor of Ohio, who was behind an early railroad project through the area. The plat of Broughton was recorded on May 16, 1853. When that railroad plan collapsed, the founders left for a while, and a separate plat called Effingham was made on September 12, 1855. Broughton was later merged into it, and its name dropped.

The Illinois Central reached the spot in 1855-56, and that changed everything. In 1859 the county voted on moving its seat from Ewington. Perrin says Effingham “was nothing but a hamlet,” while Ewington had about 200 people, “but the former had the advantage of being on the railroad, and Ewington was over three miles away.” Effingham won by a small majority. If you look at the 1950 map above, you can see how the town grew right where its rail lines cross.

Quick answers

Who is Effingham, Illinois, named after?

Nobody knows for sure. The town is named for its county; Ackerman’s railroad booklet credits a surveyor called General Effingham, while Gannett (1905) gives both that story and Lord Effingham, and the 1883 county history says the reason “is not known.”

Was Effingham ever called Broughton?

Yes. Broughton, platted in 1853 and named for John Brough of Ohio, was the original town. It was merged into Effingham, which was platted in 1855.

Why did Effingham become the county seat?

It was on the railroad. In the 1859 vote it beat Ewington, which was over three miles (5 km) from the tracks, according to Perrin.

Key dates

1. 1831February 15: the legislature creates Effingham County.
2. 1853May 16: the plat of Broughton, named for John Brough of Ohio, is recorded.
3. 1855September 12: the original plat of Effingham is made for Andrew J. Galloway.
4. 1859September: voters move the county seat from Ewington to Effingham, the town on the railroad.

Getting there

Open Effingham in Google Maps

• Map
• Directions
• Satellite
• Terrain

Opens in a new tab. The pin is the center of Effingham in the USGS place-name record.

The closest airports, Amtrak stations and intercity bus stops, measured in a straight line from the center of Effingham.

Airports

• Decatur (DEC) 52 mi 84 km
• University of Illinois/Willard (CMI) Savoy 65 mi 105 km
• St Louis Lambert International (STL) St. Louis 101 mi 163 km

Amtrak trains

• Effingham station (EFG) under 1 mi 0.5 km
• Mattoon station (MAT) 27 mi 43 km

Intercity buses

• Greyhound Effingham W Fayette Ave under 1 mi 1 km

Distances are as the crow flies, not by road. We don't list schedules or fares because they change; check with the airline, Amtrak or the bus company before you go. Official data (FAA commercial service airports (2025), FAA airport locations, Amtrak stations and Intercity Bus Atlas) from the FAA and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, checked Nov 6, 2026.

Historical Sources & References

• William Henry Perrin, ed., History of Effingham County, Illinois (1883). “Why the county was named Effingham is not known,” and Ewing’s suggestion (p. 37); the 1859 county-seat vote (pp. 80-82); John Brough as president of the “Brough” railroad company (p. 112); Broughton, named for “Mr. Brough,” and the 1855 plat of Effingham (pp. 150-151).
• Henry Gannett, The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States (1905), p. 115. “The origin of the name is in doubt”: Gen. Edward Effingham, a surveyor, or Lord Effingham.
• William K. Ackerman, Origin of the Names of Stations on the Line of the Illinois Central Railroad Co., p. 29. City and county “named after General Effingham, an Englishman by birth, who was the United States Surveyor.”
• GNIS feature 407809 (U.S. Geological Survey). The official record and coordinates for Effingham, in Effingham County.