Morris, Illinois facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Morris
City
The Morris Downtown Commercial Historic District
Location of Morris in Grundy County, Illinois.
Location of Illinois in the United States
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Grundy
Townships	Morris, Erienna, Saratoga, Wauponsee
Founded	1842
Area
• Total	11.64 sq mi (30.15 km2)
• Land	11.28 sq mi (29.22 km2)
• Water	0.36 sq mi (0.93 km2)
Elevation	515 ft (157 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	14,163
• Density	1,255.25/sq mi (484.65/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP Code(s)	60450
Area codes	815/779
FIPS code	17-50491
Wikimedia Commons	Morris, Illinois
Website	City of Morris

Morris is a city in and the county seat of Grundy County, Illinois, United States and part of the southwest Chicago metropolitan area. The population was estimated at 15,053 in 2019.

Description

Morris is the Grundy County seat and has a large hospital and modern schools. It is home to the Morris Community High School Redskins, who have won 3 state championships in football. There are many small parks, ball diamonds, tennis courts, two golf courses, a swimming pool as well as the Gebhard Woods State Park and the William G. Stratton State Park for boat launching on the Illinois River and a skatepark located near White Oak elementary school. Morris Community High School is known to be located on an abandoned mining network that stems for approximately five miles (8 kilometres). Morris is home to the Grundy County Speedway, and the city also hosts the annual Grundy County Fair and Grundy County Corn Fest.

Morris is situated along the Illinois River at the intersections of U.S. Route 6, Illinois Route 47, and Interstate 80.

Geography

Morris is located at 41°22′31″N 88°25′41″W / 41.37528°N 88.42806°W / 41.37528; -88.42806 (41.3751416, -88.4281240), at an elevation of 525 feet (160 m). According to the 2010 census, Morris has a total area of 9.804 square miles (25.39 km²), of which 9.44 square miles (24.45 km²) (or 96.29%) is land and 0.364 square miles (0.94 km²) (or 3.71%) is water.

Climate

The annual precipitation for Morris is about 40 inches. The record high for Morris is 109 °F (43 °C) on July 14, 1936. The record low for Morris is -26 °F (−32 °C) in December 1924. The average high temperature for Morris in July is 84.5 °F (43 °C), while the average January low is 15.4 °F (-9.2 °C).

Morris has not been struck by any major tornadoes in recent history, although they occur in Northern Illinois annually. Morris was the first town hit by the Super Outbreak of April 3–4, 1974. However, the damage within the city was relatively minor, and nobody was injured.

The city can receive heavy snowfall and experience blizzards periodically.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 11,928 people, 4,831 households, and 3,067 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,734.0 people per square mile (669.4/km²). There were 5,084 housing units at an average density of 739.1 per square mile (285.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 86.7% White, 4.3% African American, 0.3% Native American, 1.4% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 6.7% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.5% of the population.

There were 5,084 households, out of which 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.8% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.0% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $62,563 and the median income for a family was $54,987. Males had a median income of $44,071 versus $25,206 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,256. About 5.0% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.2% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.

Telephone switching history

In early 1960, the world's first electronic switching system was installed at the Morris central office. The system was a milestone in telephone switching history, an experiment whose planning started in the early 1950s, and led to the largest sustained research and development program toward a single goal in the Bell System. After conversion of the existing manual telephone system using telephone operators for completing telephone calls, with an automatic electromechanical crossbar switching system starting in ca. 1958, a few hundred subscribers received dial service from June 1960 through January 1962 from the first mostly electronic system, that used cold-cathode electron tubes, instead of mechanical relays and switches. For telephone subscribers, the most notable characteristic of what is usually called the Morris System was the use of electronic tone ringers which used up to eight different tones produced by a tweeter, rather than the traditional bell ringer.

Notable people

Images for kids

• 

  Grundy County Speedway shortly before a race in September 2020

• 

  Downtown Morris during the Grundy County Corn Festival

See also

In Spanish: Morris (Illinois) para niños