CITY OF EFFINGHAM HISTORY

Effingham, Illinois, the "Crossroads of Opportunity," traces its roots back to 1814, when the first pioneers settled along the Little Wabash River. For the next 40 years, the isolated agricultural village witnessed little growth, adding population only when a farm family journeying west along the old Cumberland Trail stopped to work a living from the rich prairie soil.

The coming of the railroad in the 1850's however, whistled the end of the sleepy farming town. Stores and hotels opened as the area's first "boom" took place. In 1859, the village was made a county seat, and residents changed the name (from Broughton, for an early governor) to Effingham, in honor of a British lord who refused to fight against the colonists during the American Revolution.

Today, Effingham has evolved from those rural beginnings into a regional trade, employment, industrial, and transportation center, and plays a vital role in the economy of Central Illinois.

One hundred years after the railroads brought about Effingham's first "boom," the advent of the Interstate Highway System sparked the second. Located at the intersection of I-57 (direct route from Chicago to New Orleans) and I-70 (direct route from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles), Effingham has become a hub for America's motoring public.

A direct result of the 36,000 vehicles that daily pass through Effingham on the Interstates has been the explosion of new businesses around the city's three interchanges. Major truck stops and terminals, restaurants, motels, shopping centers have generated many new jobs for area residents as well as the numerous manufacturing facilities located in the City Business Park.