Morris, Illinois

Morris
City
The Morris Downtown Commercial Historic District
Country	United States
State	Illinois
County	Grundy
Townships	Morris, Erienna, Saratoga, Wauponsee
Elevation	525 ft (160 m)
Coordinates	41°22′31″N 88°25′41″W / 41.37528°N 88.42806°W / 41.37528; -88.42806Coordinates: 41°22′31″N 88°25′41″W / 41.37528°N 88.42806°W / 41.37528; -88.42806
Area	9.81 sq mi (25 km2)
- land	9.44 sq mi (24 km2)
- water	0.36 sq mi (1 km2)
Population	13,636 (2010)
Density	1,734.0/sq mi (670/km2)
Founded	1842
Timezone	CST (UTC-6)
- summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Postal code	60450
Area codes	815/779
Location of Morris within Illinois
Wikimedia Commons: Morris, Illinois
Statistics: [1]
Website: City of Morris
[2]

The city of Morris ,a suburb of Chicago, is the county seat of Grundy County, Illinois, United States. The population was 13,636 at the 2010 census, making it the largest community in Grundy County.^[3]

While not technically within the corporate limits of the city, Dresden Nuclear Power Plant, which provides a substantial portion of the electricity supply for the Chicago metropolitan area, has a Morris mailing address. Included among the Dresden plant's reactors is the first commercial nuclear reactor, housed in a spherical concrete and steel shell; it has since been decommissioned, and two more modern reactors (of 1970s vintage) now generate its electricity.^[4][5] Also nearby is the Morris Operation—the only de facto high-level radioactive waste storage site in the United States.^[6]

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.^[7] 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).^[8] 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).^[2] 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.^[9]

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.^[10]

The city can receive heavy snowfall and experience blizzards periodically.

Demographics

As of the census^[1] 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.

54% of Morris is Roman Catholic.^[15]

Industries

The Lyondell Chemical Company is located about five miles (8 km) from the city center. The plant, located just off U.S. Route 6 heading eastbound away from Morris, employs many Morris residents. In addition to the chemical plant, three nuclear power plants are located within a 15-mile (24 km) radius of the center of Morris. The closest nuclear plant is only three miles (5 km) away, called the Dresden Nuclear Power Station. The LaSalle Nuclear Station is 14–15 miles (23–24 km) away, and Braidwood Generating Station is about 13 miles (21 km) away. All of the stations are owned by Exelon Corp. Among the stations, Dresden Generating Station generates energy for Chicago and surrounding areas.^[16]

Telephone switching history

In early 1960, the world's first electronic switching system was installed at the Morris central office.^[17] 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.^[18] 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.^[19] 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

References

External links

Media related to Morris, Illinois at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website

Municipalities and communities of Grundy County, Illinois, United States
County seat: Morris
Cities	Morris
Villages	Braceville Carbon Hill Channahon‡ Coal City‡ Diamond‡ Dwight‡ East Brooklyn Gardner Godley‡ Kinsman Mazon Minooka‡ Seneca‡ South Wilmington Verona
Townships	Aux Sable Braceville Erienna Felix Garfield Goodfarm Goose Lake Greenfield Highland Maine Mazon Morris Nettle Creek Norman Saratoga Vienna Wauponsee
Unincorporated communities	Mazonia Nettle Creek Paytonville Wauponsee
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties