MOR'RIST OWN. A town and the county seat of Morris County. N. J., IS miles west of Newark: on the Lackawanna, the Rockaway Val ley, and the Whippany River railroads (Map: New Jersey, C 2). Among the features of the town are Memorial and All Souls' hospitals. the Young Men's Christian Association and Young Men's Catholic Association buildings, a public park with a Soldiers' Monument, and a large pub lic library and lyceum, occupying a hand sonic edi fice. Here is the site of Fort Nonsense. erected by Washington and marked by a memorial monu ment. miles from the town, at Morris Plains, is the State Hospital for the Insane, which cost nearly $3.000,000, has accommodations for 1500 patients, and at the time of its completion was the largest institution of its character in the United States. Morristown is in the rose and peach belt of the country, on a tableland sur rounded by hills. rising nearly 700 feet above sea level, and is in a great measure a wealthy resi dential place with large villas. No effort has been made to foster manufacturing, hut the trade of the town with the surrounding country is ac tive. Its comparatively dry and bracing winter climate attracts invalids. The government. as
provided tinder the original of incorpora tion. is vested in a mayor and a municipal coun cil, of which the executive is a member. The sehool commissioners are Anson by popular vote. Population, in 1890, 8150: in 1900, 11,267.
Settled about 1710, Morristown was known as West Hanover until in 1740 it received its present name in honor of Lewis Morris. then flov ernor of New -Jersey. During the Revolution Washington Made his headquarters here from January to May. 1777, and again from Decem ber, 1779. to June. 1780. occupying during the latter period the old Ford mansion, which now belongs to the Washington Association, and in ieh numerous Revolutionary relies are ex hibited. At the old Speedwell Iron Works here the shaft of the Savannah, the first steamboat to cross the Atlantic. was cast, and here, from 1837 to 1813, Professor Morse and Alfred Vail per fected the electric telegraph. Morristown was incorporated in 1865. Consult: Colles, Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown, etc. (Morristown, 1893) ; Tuttle, history of Morris town.