Effingham, an incorporated town in Atchison county, is located in the southwestern portion on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 18 miles southwest of Atchison. The town was started soon after the building of the old Central Branch R. R. and was a thriving community early in the '80s. If was laid out on a part of the McGilvery farm, and from the first was the supply and shipping town for a large and rich agricultural district. Several churches were established at an early day; there were several general stores and a graded school in 1882, and since that time the town has continued to grow. It has a lumber yard, general stores, hotel, implement houses, 2 banks, a money order postoffice, a weekly newspaper (the New Leaf), telegraph and express facilities, and is one of the leading towns of the western part of the county. In 1910 it had a population of 674. Effingham is the seat of the county high school.