It may have been named after Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham, who resigned his commission as general in the British army in 1775, refusing to serve in the war against the Colonies.

It is composed of nine elected members, each representing a geographic district within the County.

The current Effingham County Board Chairman is Joshua Douthit (Republican) elected in 2022 from District B.

[4] Just west of Effingham on Interstate 70 there is a 198-foot (60 m) white cross; 35,000 vehicles are estimated to pass the site each day.

It is one of the world's tallest crosses, and took over 200 short tons (180 t) of steel to erect.

[5] As of the 2010 United States census, there were 34,242 people, 13,515 households, and 9,302 families residing in the county.

Until Woodrow Wilson’s harsh policies towards Germany following World War I drove many voters to the GOP’s Warren G. Harding, it had voted an absolute majority to the Democratic presidential candidate in every election since the county’s formation.

Opposition to the New Deal caused a considerable swing away from Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, and combined with local opposition to Roosevelt’s war policies in 1940 to cause FDR to only win the county by forty-seven votes from Wendell Willkie.