Morristown, New Jersey

Morristown () is a town in and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Morristown has been called "the military capital of the American Revolution" because of its strategic role in the war for independence from Great Britain. Morristown's history is visible in a variety of locations that collectively make up Morristown National Historical Park, the country's first National Historical Park.

Morristown was incorporated as a town by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 6, 1865, within Morris Township, and it was formally set off from the township in 1895. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 20,180,

According to British colonial records, the first permanent settlement in Morristown was New Hanover, founded in 1715 by colonists from New York and Connecticut. Morris County was created on March 15, 1739, from portions of Hunterdon County. The county, and ultimately Morristown itself, was named for the popular Governor of the Province, Lewis Morris, who championed land ownership rights for colonists.

History

thumb|[[Ford Mansion, Washington's headquarters from 1779 to 1780 during the Revolutionary War]]

thumb|Morristown in 1828

thumb|Morristown United Methodist Church

Present-day Morristown was initially inhabited by the Lenni Lenape Native Americans for up to 6,000 years prior to exploration of Europeans. The first European settlements in this portion of New Jersey were established by Sweden and the Netherlands in the early 17th century, when significant trade in furs existed between the natives and the Europeans at temporary posts. It became part New Netherland, a Dutch colony, but the English seized control of the region in 1664, which was granted to Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, and named the Province of New Jersey.

18th century

Morristown was settled around 1715 by English Presbyterians from Southold, New York, on Long Island and New Haven, Connecticut, as the village of New Hanover. The town's central location and road connections led to its selection as the seat of the new Morris County shortly after its separation from Hunterdon County on March 15, 1739. The village and county were named for Lewis Morris, the first and then sitting royal governor of a united colony of New Jersey.

In 1777, General Washington and the Continental Army marched from the victories at Trenton and Princeton to encamp near Morristown from January to May. Washington's headquarters during that first encampment was at Jacob Arnold's Tavern, located at the Morristown Green in the center of Morristown. Morristown was selected for its extremely strategic location. It was between Philadelphia and New York and near New England while being protected by the Watchung Mountains from the bulk of British troops camped in New York City. It also was chosen for the skills and trades of the residents, local industries and natural resources to provide arms, and what was thought to be the ability of the community to provide enough food to support the army.

The churches were used for inoculations for smallpox. That first headquarters, Arnold's Tavern, was eventually moved south of the green onto Mount Kemble Avenue to become All Souls' Hospital in the late 19th century. It suffered a fire in 1918, and the original structure was demolished, but new buildings for the hospital were built directly across the street.

From December 1779 to June 1780, the Continental Army's second encampment at Morristown was at Jockey Hollow. Then, Washington's headquarters in Morristown was located at the Ford Mansion, a large mansion near what was then the edge of town. Ford's widow and children shared the house with Martha Washington and officers of the Continental Army.

The winter of 1780 was the worst winter of the Revolutionary War. The starvation was complicated by extreme inflation of money and lack of pay for the army. The entire Pennsylvania contingent successfully mutinied. Later, 200 New Jersey soldiers also attempted unsuccessfully to mutiny. Many soldiers died, due to weak health.

During Washington's second stay, in March 1780, he declared St. Patrick's Day a holiday to honor his many Irish troops. Martha Washington traveled from Virginia and remained with her husband each winter throughout the war. The Marquis de Lafayette came to Washington in Morristown to inform him that France would be sending ships and trained soldiers to aid the Continental Army.

Ford Mansion, Jockey Hollow, and Fort Nonsense are all preserved as part of Morristown National Historical Park, managed by the National Park Service, which has the distinction among historic preservationists of being the first National Historical Park established in the United States.

During Washington's stay, Benedict Arnold was court-martialed at Dickerson's Tavern, on Spring Street, for charges related to profiteering from military supplies at Philadelphia. His admonishment was made public, but Washington quietly promised the hero, Arnold, to make it up to him.

Alexander Hamilton courted and wed Elizabeth Schuyler at a residence where Washington's personal physician resided. Locally known as the Schuyler-Hamilton House, the Dr. Jabez Campfield House is listed on both the New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places.

At Morristown Green, there is a statue commemorating the meeting of George Washington, the young Marquis de LaFayette, and young Alexander Hamilton as they discussed forthcoming aid from French ships and troops being sent by King Louis XVI to aid the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War.

Morristown's Burnham Park has a statue, "Father of the American Revolution", depicting Thomas Paine, who wrote Common Sense in 1776, which urged a complete break from British rule and helped inspire the American Revolution. The bronze statue by sculptor Georg J. Lober shows Paine in 1776 using a drum as a table during the withdrawal of the army across New Jersey composing Crisis 1. He wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls..." The statue was dedicated on July 4, 1950.

19th century

The idea for constructing the Morris Canal is credited to Morristown businessman George P. Macculloch, who in 1822 convened a group to discuss his concept for a canal. The group included Governor of New Jersey Isaac Halstead Williamson, which led to approval of the proposal by the New Jersey Legislature later that year. The canal was used for a century.

In July 1825 during his 15 month return tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette returned to Morristown, where a ball was held in his honor at the 1807 Sansay House on DeHart Street (the edifice still stands as of 2011).

In 1827, St. Peter's Episcopal Church was founded at the behest of Bishop George Washington Doane and many prominent Morristown Families, including George P. Macculloch, of the Morris Canal. When the Church was rebuilt by the then-internationally famous architectural firm, McKim, Mead and White, beginning in 1889, the congregation erected one of the United States finest church buildings –a stone, English-gothic church complete with fined stained glass, and a long, decorated interior.

Antoine le Blanc, a French immigrant laborer, murdered the Sayre family and their servant (or possibly slave), Phoebe. He was tried and convicted of murder of the Sayres (but not of Phoebe) on August 13, 1833. On September 6, 1833, Le Blanc became the last person hanged on the Morristown Green. Until late 2006, the house where the murders were committed was known as "Jimmy's Haunt," which is purported to be haunted by Phoebe's ghost because her murder never saw justice. Jimmy's Haunt was torn down to make way for a bank in 2007.

Samuel F. B. Morse and Alfred Vail built the first telegraph at the Speedwell Ironworks in Morristown on January 6, 1838. The first telegraph message was A patient waiter is no loser. The first public demonstration of the invention occurred five days later as an early step toward the Information Age.

Jacob Arnold's Tavern, the first headquarters for Washington in Morristown and site of Benedict Arnold's 1780 trial, was purchased by Morristown historian Julia Keese Nelson Colles (1840-1913) to save it from demolition in 1886. It was moved by horse-power in the winter of 1887 from "the green" (after being stuck on Bank Street for about six weeks) to a site south on Mount Kemble Avenue at what is now a parking lot for the Atlantic RIMM Rehabilitation Hospital. It became a boarding house for four years until it was converted by the Grey Nuns from Montreal into All Souls' Hospital, the first general hospital in Morris County. George and Martha Washington's second floor ballroom became a chapel and the first floor tavern became a ward for patients. In 1910, the late Augustus Lefebvre Revere (brother of hospital founder Paul Revere) willed the Hospital $10,000 to be used for the erection of a new building. This fund was used 8 years later when the original Arnold's Tavern building was lost to a fire. The entire organization, nurses, doctors, and patients of All Souls' Hospital were then moved across Mount Kemble Avenue, U.S. Route 202, to the newly built brick hospital building.

On December 18, 1843, the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church was incorporated. This was the first congregation established by blacks in Morris County. It is still active. The first site of the Church was located at 13 Spring Street and served as the only schoolhouse for colored children until 1870. The Church relocated to its present site at 59 Spring Street in 1874.

The first Jews moved to Morristown in the 1850s, but much larger numbers of Ashkenazi Jews migrated to the region from Eastern Europe in the 1890s, which led to the incorporation of the Morristown Jewish Center in 1899. Today there are several Jewish synagogues in Morristown reflecting the diversity of the community.

In the 1880s, the town's residents were primarily farmers. The small amount of stores in the Morristown Green town center were only open during the evening to accommodate farmers who did not leave their work during the daytime. There were only a few stores in town, including Adams & Fairchild grocers and P. H. Hoffman & Son clothiers, both located in the Arnold's Tavern on the Morristown Green.

Gilded Age of Morristown

thumb|[[Oak Dell in Morristown, known as "Millionaries Row"]]

Starting in the mid-1800s, Morristown became a popular summer retreat for some of New York City's wealthiest residents. From the 1870s onwards, immense estates were built up along once rural thoroughfares; Madison Avenue, which runs along Morristown and Madison, New Jersey, became known as "the street of the 100 millionaires" due to the sheer extravagance of the houses that were constructed.

Between 1880 and 1929, the Gilded Age of Morristown occurred, when dozens of "millionaires with large fortunes built their estates" in Morristown and Morris Township.

In the 1880 United States census, the town had 5,418 residents, which grew to 8,156 in 1890. Christian charity organization Market Street Mission was established on 9 Market Street beside the Morristown Green in response to the large number of saloons on Market Street. Beginning on March 18, 1889, the Mission hosted nightly meetings to aid and convert those with alcoholism, opioid use, and homelessness. As of 2022, the organization continues to operate a homeless shelter, meals, and emergency services, along with men's drug addiction recovery groups, community counseling, a chapel, and a thrift store. This became Fosterfields, a Jersey cow farm. It was later managed by Caroline Rose Foster, though most of its herd was sold in a 1927 auction. In 1979 it was donated to the Morris County Park Commission. The site currently houses a living history museum and Revere's historic house.

In 1902, the New York Herald described Morristown as "the Millionaire City of the Nation." The Herald claimed it "contains the richest and least known colony of wealthy people in the world." It identified 45 millionaires (15 of whom were worth over $10 million) who had purchased country homes in Morristown to avoid "lavish display" and seek "freedom from notoriety." The newspaper named some of them including lawyer George Griswold Frelinghuysen, carpet-making heir Eugene Higgins, banker Otto Hermann Kahn, Luther Kountze, and Louis A. Thebaud.

thumb|[[William V.S. Thorne|Thorne Mansion, built in 1912, houses the Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship]]

Even smaller estates without deer herds, polo fields or private gas plants necessitated "multiple indoor and outdoor employees" such as "butlers, housekeeprs, parlor-maids and upstairs maids; governesses, nannies, and tutors; cooks and kitchen maids, coachmen, grooms, and stable boys; managers, care-takers, watchmen; gardeners and assistants."

thumb|Macculloch Hall, built 1810 by George P. Macculloch

21st century

On January 5, 2009, five red lights were spotted in the Morristown area night skies, who gained significant press coverage and 9-1-1 calls. On April 1, 2009, the perpetrators revealed their hoax by publicizing footage of its creation, which consisted of helium balloons and flares. The event became nationally known as the Morristown UFO hoax.

Geography

thumb|Speedwell Lake

According to the United States Census Bureau, Morristown town had a total area of 3.01 square miles (7.79 km2), including 2.91 square miles (7.53 km2) of land and 0.10 square miles (0.25 km2) of water (3.26%). making it part of 21 pairs of "doughnut towns" in the state, where one municipality entirely surrounds another.

The downtown shopping and business district of Morristown is centered around a square park, known as the Morristown Green. It is a former market square from Morristown's colonial days.

Climate

Morristown has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa) with hot, humid summers and moderately cold winters. The hardiness zone is 7a.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Morristown had a population of 20,180, with 8,482 households and 4,199 families. The population density was 6,934.7 per square mile (2,679.9/km).

The median age was 34.0 years. 17.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 12.2% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 102.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.9 males age 18 and over.

There were 9,213 housing units, of which 7.9% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.5%. Of the 8,482 households, 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 29.9% were married-couple households, 27.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 33.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 39.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.2 and the average family size was 3.0. estimates show that the median household income was $111,130 (with a margin of error of +/- $13,384) and the median family income was $124,531 (+/- $26,526). Males had a median income of $61,823 (+/- $6,029) versus $55,479 (+/- $7,473) for females. The median income for those above 16 years old was $58,971 (+/- $3,850). Approximately, 7.5% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.5% of those under the age of 18 and 13.6% of those ages 65 or over.

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 18,411 people, 7,417 households, and 3,649 families in the town. The population density was . There were 8,172 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 62.50% (11,507) White, 13.97% (2,572) Black or African American, 0.64% (117) Native American, 4.34% (799) Asian, 0.06% (11) Pacific Islander, 14.84% (2,732) from other races, and 3.66% (673) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 34.09% (6,277) of the population.

2000 census

As of the 2000 United States census

9.8% of Morristown residents identified themselves as being of Colombian American ancestry in the 2000 Census, the eighth- highest percentage of the population of any municipality in the United States. 4.5% of Morristown residents identified themselves as being of Honduran American ancestry in the 2000 Census, the sixth-highest percentage of the population of any municipality in the United States.

There were 7,252 households, out of which 22.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.4% were married couples living together, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.0% were non-families. 38.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.19. Louis Berger Group, Schindler Group and the Morristown & Erie Railway, a local short-line freight railway and Honeywell.

Morristown Medical Center, with 5,500 employees, is Morristown's largest employer. In a ruling issued in June 2015, Tax Court Judge Vito Bianco ruled that the hospital would be required to pay property taxes on nearly all of its campus in the town.

Arts and culture

thumb|[[St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Morristown, New Jersey)|St. Peter's Episcopal Church]]

thumb|[[Thomas Nast Home|Home of Thomas Nast, known as Villa Fontana]]

thumb|[[Mayo Performing Arts Center]]

Main sites

Morristown National Historical Park – Four historic sites around Morristown associated with the American Revolutionary War, including Jockey Hollow, a park that includes a visitor center, the Revolution-era Wick farm, encampment site of George Washington's Continental Army, and around 25 miles of hiking trails, and the Washington's Headquarters & Ford Mansion, a Revolution-era Georgian-style mansion used by George Washington as his headquarters during the Jockey Hollow encampment.
Speedwell Lake – Park with an old dam, other ruins, and more. Patriots Path, a footpath that runs through Northern New Jersey winds through this park.
Morristown Green – Park at the center of town which was the old town "common" or "green." It is the site of several Revolutionary War and Civil war monuments (including one with George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Marquis De Lafayette discussing the arrival of French aid to the colonies), and is surrounded by historic churches, the colonial county-courthouse, and a shopping and restaurant district.
St. Peter's Episcopal Church – Large McKim Mead and White church with bell tower, fine stained glass and medieval furnishings.
Acorn Hall – 1853 Victorian Italianate mansion and home to the Morris County Historical Society. Donated to the historical society in 1971 by Mary Crane Hone, the mansion retained much of its original furnishings and accouterments as it remained in the same family for over a century. It is currently operated as a museum and is the headquarters of the Morris County Historical Society.
Morris Museum – formally incorporated in 1943. The museum's permanent displays include rocks, minerals, fossils, animal mounts, a model railroad, and Native American crafts, pottery, carving, basketry and textiles.
Mayo Performing Arts Center – former Walter Reade movie theater originally constructed in 1937 that has been converted into a 1,302-seat performing arts center.
The Seeing Eye – first school in North America for training and connecting guide dogs with blind and visually impaired students.
Speedwell Ironworks – National Historic Landmark and museum at the site where the electric telegraph was first presented to the public, on January 11, 1838.

Libraries

Morristown and Morris Township Public Library - Originating as informal book trading in 1792, the library was officially incorporated in 1866. After growing to 30,000 volumes, a 1914 fire destroyed the lyceum and much of its contents. In 1916, textile merchant Grinnell Willis constructed and paid for a new fireproof building. and Elinor Parker, manager of Scribner's Book Store.

Historic sites

thumb|[[Acorn Hall, headquarters of the Morris County Historical Society]]

Morristown is home to the following locations on the National Register of Historic Places:

Acorn Hall – 68 Morris Avenue (added 1973)
Boisaubin Manor – Southeast of Morristown on Treadwell Avenue (added 1976)
Dr. Jabez Campfield House – 5 Olyphant Place (added 2008)
Dr. Lewis Condict House – 51 South Street (added 1973)
Cutler Homestead – 21 Cutler Street (added 1975)
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station – 132 Morris Street (added 1980)
Fordville – East of Morristown at 30 Ford Hill Road (added 1978)
Glanville Blacksmith Shop – 47 Bank Street (added 1987)
Jenkins-Mead House – 14 Revere Road (added 1997)
Lindenwold – 247 South Street (added 1986)
Timothy Mills House – 27 Mills Street (added 1975)
Morris County Courthouse – Washington St. between Court Street and Western Avenue (added 1977)
Morristown District – Roughly bounded by the cemetery, King Place, Madison and Colles Avenues., DeHart Street, and North Park Place (added 1973), Boundary Increase Irregularly bounded by Lackawanna, Franklin Place, James Street, Ogden Place, Doughty, Mt. Kemble, Western, and Speedwell Avenues (added 1986)
Morristown National Historical Park – At junction of U.S. 202 and NJ 24 (added 1966)
Morristown School – Junction of Whippany Road and Hanover Avenue, Morris Township (added 1996)
Mount Kemble Home – 1 Mt. Kemble Avenue (added 1986)
Thomas Nast Home – MacCulloch Avenue and Miller Road (added 1966)
Normandy Park Historic District – Normandy Parkway, between Columbia Turnpike and Madison Avenue, Morris Township (added 1996)
Oak Dell – Franklin Street and Madison Avenue (added 1986)
Joseph W. Revere House – Northwest of Morristown on Mendham Avenue (added 1973), Fosterfields Boundary Increase at junction of Mendham and Kahdena Roads, Morris Township (added 1991)
Speedwell Village-The Factory – 333 Speedwell Avenue (added 1974)
Spring Brook House – 167 James Street (added 1986)
Thorne and Eddy Estates – East of Morristown on Columbia Road (added 1978)
Whippany Farm – 53 East Hanover Avenue (added 1977)
Willow Hall – 330 Speedwell Avenue (added 2011)

Statues

thumb|[[Equestrian statue of George Washington (Morristown, New Jersey)|George Washington by Frederick Roth]]

thumb|[[The Hiker (Kitson)|The Hiker by Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson]]

An equestrian statue of George Washington by the sculptor Frederick Roth is located near the Ford Mansion, Washington's Headquarters from December 1779 to June 1780 during the American Revolutionary War. It was dedicated on October 19, 1928, the anniversary of the surrender of British General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781.
A copy of The Hiker by Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson, commemorating the soldiers who fought in the Spanish–American War, was installed at the corner of Elm Street and Morris Avenue in 1948.
One of only two heroic statues of Thomas Paine in the United States is located in Morristown; the other is found in Bordentown, NJ.
One of the few statues depicting an unblindfolded Lady Justice adorns the façade of the Courthouse.
A statue of Morris Frank, the co-founder of The Seeing Eye guide dog school for the blind, and his dog Buddy stands in a corner of the green.
The Alliance (2007) by Brooklyn's Studio EIS, featuring bronze figures of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette. The statue is in the Morristown Green.

Sports

The New Jersey Stampede (formerly the Minutemen) are a professional inline hockey team that competes in the Professional Inline Hockey Association.

The United States Equestrian Team, the international equestrian team for the United States, was founded in 1950 at the Coates estate on Van Beuren Road in Morristown.

Morristown has a cricketing club, the first in North America.

The Morristown 1776 Association Football Club is a soccer club that competes in the North Jersey Soccer League and MCSSA.

Government

Local government

Morristown is governed within the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under a Plan F Mayor-Council system of New Jersey municipal government, which went into effect on January 1, 1974. The town is one of 71 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government. The Morristown Town Council is composed of seven members, of which three members are elected at-large representing the entire town and one representative is chosen from each of the town's four wards. Members are elected on a partisan basis to four-year terms of office on a staggered basis in odd-numbered years as part of the November general election, with the four ward seats up for vote together and the at-large and mayoral seats up for vote together two years later. As the legislative arm of the government, the council is responsible for making and setting policy for the town.

, the Mayor of Morristown is Democrat Timothy Dougherty, whose term of office ends December 31, 2029. Members of the Morristown Town Council are Council President Steven Pylypchuk (D, Ward III, 2027), Council Vice President Christopher Russo (D; Ward IV, 2027), Toshiba Foster (D; At Large, 2029), Robert Iannaccone (I, Ward I, 2027), Tina Lindsey (D, Ward II, 2027), David Silva (D; At Large, 2029) and Nathan Umbriac (D; At Large, 2029).

Federal, state, and county representation

Morristown is located in the 11th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 25th state legislative district.

Politics

As of June 2019, a total of 11,330 voters were registered in Morristown, of which 5,087 (44.9%) were Democrats, 2,208 (19.5%) Republicans, and 4,035 (35.6%) were registered as Unaffiliated.

In the 2016 presidential election, Democrat Hillary Clinton received 67.4% of the vote (4,984 votes), ahead of Republican Donald Trump with 27.5% (2,033 votes), and other candidates with 5.1% (294 votes), among the 7,470 ballots cast by the town's 11,060 voters, for a turnout of 67.5%. In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 67.1% of the vote (4,485 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 31.7% (2,117 votes), and other candidates with 1.2% (79 votes), among the 6,727 ballots cast by the town's 10,212 registered voters (46 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 65.9%.

In the 2021 gubernatorial election, Democrat Phil Murphy received 65.6% of the vote (3,126 votes), ahead of Republican Jack Ciattarelli with 33.7% (1,611 votes), and other candidates with 1.0% (46 votes), among the 4,854 ballots cast by the town's 12,836 voters, for a turnout of 37.8%. In the 2017 gubernatorial election, Democrat Phil Murphy received 68.44% of the vote (2,758 votes), ahead of Republican Kim Guadagno with 29.6% (1,194 votes), and other candidates with 1.9% (78 votes), among the 4,164 ballots cast by the town's 10,901 voters, for a turnout of 38.2%. In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 52.7% of the vote (1,871 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 45.2% (1,602 votes), and other candidates with 2.1% (75 votes), among the 3,780 ballots cast by the town's 10,124 registered voters (232 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 37.3%.