Morris | |
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 Location of Morris in Grundy County, Illinois. | |
| Coordinates:41°22′48″N88°25′28″W / 41.38000°N 88.42444°W /41.38000; -88.42444[1][1] | |
| 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 | 528 ft (161 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 14,163 |
| • Density | 1,255.2/sq mi (484.65/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP code | 60450 |
| Area codes | 815/779 |
| FIPS code | 17-50491 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2395407[1] |
| Website | morrisil |
| [3] | |
Morris is a city in and thecounty seat ofGrundy County,Illinois, United States and part of the southwestChicago metropolitan area. The population was 14,163 as of the2020 census.[4]
A team of ten anthropologists and sociologists from the nearby University of Chicago studied the city in depth and reported its findings inW. Lloyd Warner, editor,Democracy in Jonesville: A Study of Quality and Inequality (1949).[5]
Morris is located in northeast Grundy County alongU.S. Route 6 andIllinois Route 47 and on the north side of theIllinois River[6][7] at an elevation of 515 feet (157 m).[1]
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Morris has a total area of 11.64 square miles (30.15 km2), of which 11.28 square miles (29.22 km2) (or 96.92%) is land and 0.36 square miles (0.93 km2) (or 3.08%) is water.[8]
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 theSuper Outbreak of April 3–4, 1974. However, the damage within the city was relatively minor, and nobody was injured.[9]
The city can receive heavy snowfall and experience blizzards periodically.
| Climate data for Morris, Illinois (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1912–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 68 (20) | 74 (23) | 85 (29) | 93 (34) | 103 (39) | 106 (41) | 109 (43) | 107 (42) | 103 (39) | 95 (35) | 82 (28) | 72 (22) | 109 (43) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 31.2 (−0.4) | 35.6 (2.0) | 47.7 (8.7) | 60.9 (16.1) | 72.1 (22.3) | 81.7 (27.6) | 84.9 (29.4) | 82.7 (28.2) | 77.4 (25.2) | 64.4 (18.0) | 49.0 (9.4) | 36.7 (2.6) | 60.4 (15.8) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 23.4 (−4.8) | 27.4 (−2.6) | 38.3 (3.5) | 50.3 (10.2) | 61.6 (16.4) | 71.4 (21.9) | 75.0 (23.9) | 72.8 (22.7) | 66.1 (18.9) | 53.6 (12.0) | 40.3 (4.6) | 29.1 (−1.6) | 50.8 (10.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 15.7 (−9.1) | 19.3 (−7.1) | 28.9 (−1.7) | 39.6 (4.2) | 51.0 (10.6) | 61.2 (16.2) | 65.0 (18.3) | 63.0 (17.2) | 54.8 (12.7) | 42.8 (6.0) | 31.6 (−0.2) | 21.5 (−5.8) | 41.2 (5.1) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −23 (−31) | −22 (−30) | −19 (−28) | 12 (−11) | 24 (−4) | 34 (1) | 41 (5) | 34 (1) | 26 (−3) | 12 (−11) | −9 (−23) | −56 (−49) | −26 (−32) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 2.09 (53) | 1.79 (45) | 2.23 (57) | 3.34 (85) | 4.39 (112) | 4.72 (120) | 4.92 (125) | 4.01 (102) | 3.55 (90) | 3.23 (82) | 2.50 (64) | 2.02 (51) | 38.79 (985) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 7.4 (19) | 7.5 (19) | 2.9 (7.4) | 0.5 (1.3) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 1.1 (2.8) | 5.3 (13) | 24.7 (63) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 in) | 10.0 | 8.2 | 9.2 | 10.8 | 13.4 | 11.2 | 9.3 | 9.5 | 8.1 | 10.2 | 8.1 | 9.4 | 117.4 |
| Average snowy days(≥ 0.1 in) | 5.9 | 4.3 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 17.6 |
| Source:NOAA[10][11] | |||||||||||||
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | 2,105 | — | |
| 1870 | 3,138 | 49.1% | |
| 1880 | 3,486 | 11.1% | |
| 1890 | 3,053 | −12.4% | |
| 1900 | 4,273 | 40.0% | |
| 1910 | 4,563 | 6.8% | |
| 1920 | 4,505 | −1.3% | |
| 1930 | 5,568 | 23.6% | |
| 1940 | 6,145 | 10.4% | |
| 1950 | 6,926 | 12.7% | |
| 1960 | 7,935 | 14.6% | |
| 1970 | 8,194 | 3.3% | |
| 1980 | 8,833 | 7.8% | |
| 1990 | 10,270 | 16.3% | |
| 2000 | 11,928 | 16.1% | |
| 2010 | 13,636 | 14.3% | |
| 2020 | 14,163 | 3.9% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[12] | |||
As of the2020 census[4] there were 14,163 people, 6,206 households, and 4,100 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,216.65 inhabitants per square mile (469.75/km2). There were 6,286 housing units at an average density of 539.99 per square mile (208.49/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 82.98%White, 2.18%African American, 0.37%Native American, 1.17%Asian, 0.06%Pacific Islander, 4.84% fromother races, and 8.39% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 13.30% of the population.
There were 6,206 households, out of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.47% were married couples living together, 12.04% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.93% were non-families. 29.94% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.18% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 2.27.
The city's age distribution consisted of 22.9% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 24% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $61,419, and the median income for a family was $73,750. Males had a median income of $47,209 versus $32,672 for females. Theper capita income for the city was $32,024. About 6.5% of families and 10.2% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 18.3% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.
TheAllen Paper Car Wheel Works were based on East North Street in Morris, which supplied thePullman Palace Car Company inChicago from 1867 to 1890 with composite wheels for their railway carriages.[13][14] By the 1920s, the paper mill had become one of the largest employers in Morris, producing cardboard boxes of various shapes, sizes, and colors that were shipped throughout the US.[15]
TheLyondell 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 theDresden Nuclear Power Station. The LaSalle Nuclear Station is 14–15 miles (23–24 km) away, andBraidwood Generating Station is about 13 miles (21 km) away. All of the stations are owned byExelon Corp. Among the stations, Dresden Generating Station generates energy for Chicago and surrounding areas.[16]
In early 1960, the world's firstelectronic 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 theMorris 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.
Media related toMorris, Illinois at Wikimedia Commons
Municipalities and communities ofGrundy County, Illinois,United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
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| Townships | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
