MORRISTOWN, N. J., city, county-seat of Morris County, on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, the Morristown and Erie and the Pennsylvania railroads; also Morris County Traction Company line from Elizabeth to Lake Hopatcong 40 miles; about 20 miles west of Newark. It is situated in an agricultural region in which market gardening and fruit growing receive considerable attention. It was settled in 1709-10 and was called West Hanover. In 1740 the name was changed to Morristown in honor of Lewis Morris (q.v.) then colonial governor of New Jersey. It was incorporated in 1865. It is about 700 feet above sea-level and overlooks a beautiful section of country. The place figured prominently in the Revolu tion; in 1777, from January to May, and from December 1779 to June 1780, Morristown was Washington's headquarters. The old Ford mansion, which he occupied, is now owned by the °Washington Association') who preserve here numerous mementoes of Revolutionary and pre-Revolutionary times. It was here that Samuel F. B. Morse (q.v.) and his associate, Alfred Vail, worked on the electric telegraph experiments about 1837. The shaft of the Savannah, the first steamboat to cross the At lantic, was cast at the old Speedwell Iron Works. Morristown is largely a residential
city; its climate, scenery and easy access to the cities of New York, Jersey City, and Newark make it a most desirable location for the homes of city business men. It has con siderable trade and ships considerable quanti ties of flowers, fruit and vegetables. Some of the prominent buildings are the Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Men's Catholic Association buildings, and All Souls' and the Memorial hospitals, post office, Vail Museum, a new high school, new public library and lyceum. There is a beautiful and well-kept park, in which a soldiers' monument has been erected. A monument marks the site of Fort Nonsense, erected by Washington. The city has public and parish schools. At Morris Plains, about four miles northeast of the city, is a State hospital for the insane, which has accommodation for about 1,500 patients, and which cost about $3,000,000. Government is vested in a mayor and council. Pop. 13,500. Consult Tuttle, 'History of Morristown' ; Colles, 'Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown' (1893) ; Sherman, 'Historic Mor ristown' (Morristown 1906).