Morris’ post office opened in 1842, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns · #105 of 768 in Illinois. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 86 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: the first Morris post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Morris’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Morris is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #105 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Morris’ overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Morris’ 58.4 sits above most of its state (91% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 87 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Morris’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
On the map
Morris on the map, 1892 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Morris. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1892Morris sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Morris.
Every building
Morris, building by building, 1889–1916
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The story so far
Morris, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Morris yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
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 14,163 as of the 2020 census. A team of ten anthropologists and sociologists from the nearby University of Chicago studied the city in depth and reported its findings in W. Lloyd Warner, editor, Democracy in Jonesville: A Study of Quality and Inequality (1949).
Its first post office opened in 1842. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 13,636 to 14,163 (+4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Morris, 1900–1924
Passages that mention Morris, cut from the printed page as they were published.
authorized the company to " locate, construct and complete, maintain and operate a railroad from the town of Lane (now Rochelle), in the county of Ogle, to the town of Oregon in same county: from thence to the town of Mount Morris: from thence on the most eligible and direct route to or near the town of Mt. Carroll, in the county of Carroll; from thence to the Mississippi river." The company was also empowered to construct said railroad east from Oregon to the city of Chicago. The capital stock was fixed at one million dollars, divided into shares of one hundred dollars
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
authorized the company to " locate, construct and complete, maintain and operate a railroad from the town of Lane (now Rochelle), in the county of Ogle, to the town of Oregon in same county; from thence to the town of Mount Morris; from thence on the most eligible and direct route to or near the town of Mt. Carroll, in the county of Carroll; from thence to the Mississippi river." The company was also empowered to construct said railroad east from Oregon to the city of Chicago. The capital stock was fixed at one million dollars, divided into shares of one hundred dollars
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The ancestry of Grafton Johnson1924 · page 192Read the page →
Read the text
Three sons of John Morris, who became lawyers, were honored with election to political office. The oldest, Benja¬ min Morris, studied both medicine and law at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, which institution of higher learning, founded in 1783, maintains the prestige of first in that state; thence he proceeded to Natchitoches, in Natchitoches county, Louisiana, where he was sent to the state legislature. George Morris, who stayed in Kentucky,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Morris, 1842 to 1900
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Morris post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Morris rank for history?
Morris is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #105 of 768 in Illinois. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Morris?
Three places: the Coleman Hardware Company Building (listed 1994), the Morris Wide Water Canal Boat Site (2000) and the Morris Downtown Commercial Historic District (2006).
How old are the homes in Morris?
15% of Morris’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1983.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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