Legend says Griffin Tipsword came to live with the Kickapoo Indians, who were indifferent to the coming of a Caucasian man.

He was a pioneer, a missionary preacher, hunter and medicine man among the Native Americans.

Tipsword was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, first fighting at Ramsour's Mill in the Carolinas.

Griffin died in 1845 and was buried on the banks of Wolff Creek (Tipsword family cemetery, Effingham), leaving three sons, John, Isaac, and Thomas, who left many descendants in the area.

Mound Township was settled early by German immigrants from the Rhine by way of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Recently, the Government has erected a signal observatory upon it, some seventy-five to one hundred feet in height, from the top of which one may look across the States of Missouri and Arkansas and see the cowboys watching their herds on the prairies of Texas."

There had been a trading center called Montville on the bank of the creek south of what is now Altamont (Southmore Heights).

On August 8, 1872, Altamont adopted the village form of government, with a mayor and four council members.

[4] According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Altamont has a total area of 1.49 square miles (3.86 km2), all land.

The painting, The Moaning Betty (by Andre Wolff), hangs in city hall.

Each year the Effingham County Fair hosts nationally known country singers, a touring rodeo, two ITPA truck and tractor pulls, a queen pageant, a talent show, Standardbred and Thoroughbred races, and a demolition derby.

The builder was Charles Hanker of Toledo, Illinois, for a $17,965 with the owner furnishing the materials.

It has four baseball/softball diamonds, an indoor batting cage, playground equipment and soccer field, and a nine-hole disc golf course.

It has play equipment, a skateboard area, several covered picnic tables, a basketball court, and restrooms.

Most recent mayoral and city council elections were in April 2023, those terms all expire in 2027.

Currently, Dan Milleville is mayor, and the council members are Terry White, Mike Walker, Jason Rippetoe, and Tayler Polk.

In 1961, enrollment showed 51 students and the congregation built a parish hall with the school.

On August 26, 1962, Bethlehem Congregation dedicated three classrooms, office, restrooms, parish hall/gymnasium and kitchen.

In May 1987, Bethlehem Lutheran School closed and students began attending ALIS in August.

To accommodate the additional students from the Bethlehem and Zion congregations a major building project was undertaken in the summer of 1989.

Frog Pond is currently taught by Candace Wolff and Kathy Corder.

Amtrak service to Chicago and New Orleans and all points in between can be accessed in Effingham, 12 miles (19 km) to the east.

The Lions operate the youth basketball and soccer programs, have an annual fishing rodeo, sponsor a golf tournament, participate in Lions International Candy Day each fall, sponsor local youth for trips abroad and within the U.S., and contribute toward Ballard Nature Center and local parks.

The Altamont Garden Club has planted and cared for many areas around town, as well as pays for and waters over thirty hanging baskets of flowers throughout downtown the spring & summer months.

The Garden Club also installed a few dozen lamp posts along the walking path in Schmidt Park.