About Morristown
Morristown is a town and county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, United States. Morristown has been called "the military capital of the American Revolution" because of its strategic role in the war for independence from Great Britain. Today this history is visible in a variety of locations throughout the town that collectively make up Morristown National Historical Park.
According to British colonial records, the first permanent European settlement at Morristown occurred in 1715, when migrants from New York and Connecticut founded a settlement as New Hanover. Morris County was created on March 15, 1739, from portions of Hunterdon County. The county, and ultimately Morristown itself, was named for the popular Governor of the Province, Lewis Morris, who championed benefits for the colonists.
Morristown was incorporated as a town by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 6, 1865, within Morris Township, and it was formally set off from the township in 1895. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 18,411, reflecting a decline of 133 from the 18,544 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 2,355 from the 16,189 counted in the 1990 Census.
The area was inhabited by the Lenni Lenape Native Americans for up to 6,000 years prior to exploration of Europeans. The Swedes and Dutch established the first European settlements in this portion of New Jersey in the early 17th century, when a significant trade in furs existed between the natives and the Europeans at temporary posts. It became part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, but the English seized control of the region in 1664, which was granted to Sir George Carteret and John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton, as the Province of New Jersey.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Morristown had a total area of 3.026 square miles, including 2.929 square miles of land and 0.097 square miles of water.
Morristown is completely surrounded by Morris Township, making it part of 21 pairs of "doughnut towns" in the state, where one municipality entirely surrounds another.
The downtown shopping and business district of Morristown is centered around a square park, known as the Morristown Green. It is a former market square from Morristown's colonial days.
The Morris School District is a regional public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from the communities of Morristown and Morris Township, and high school students (grades 9-12) from Morris Plains who attend the high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Morris Plains Schools.
As of the 2014-15 school year, the district and its 10 schools had an enrollment of 5,123 students and 426.7 classroom teachers, a student–teacher ratio of 12.0:1. Schools in the district are Lafayette Learning Center (PreK; 176 students), Hillcrest School (K-2; 318), Alfred Vail School (K-2; 332), Woodland School (K-2; 305), Alexander Hamilton School (3-5; 271), Thomas Jefferson School (3-5; 317), Sussex Avenue School (3-5; 323), Normandy Park School (K-5; 368), Frelinghuysen Middle School (6-8; 1,144) and Morristown High School (9-12; 1,678).
In addition to a public school system, Morristown has several private schools. Primary and elementary schools include The Red Oaks School, a Montessori school serving students from pre-school through grade eight. Assumption Roman Catholic is a grade school (K-8) that operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson and was one of 11 schools in the state recognized in 2014 by the United States Department of Education's National Blue Ribbon Schools Program.The Peck School, a private day school which serves approximately 300 students in kindergarten through grade eight, dates back to 1893 when it was originally established as Miss Sutphen's School. The Delbarton School is an all-boys Roman Catholic school with approximately 540 students in grades seven through twelve, that began serving resident students in 1939 after having previously served as a seminary. The Morristown-Beard School, a private co-ed school formed from the merger of two previously existing institutions, Morristown Preparatory School and Miss Beard's School, serves grades 6 through 12. In addition, Villa Walsh Academy, a private Catholic college preparatory school conducted by the Religious Teachers Filippini, is located in Morristown.
The Academy of Saint Elizabeth was founded at Morristown in 1860 by the Sisters of Charity, however when municipal boundaries were redrawn in 1895, the Academy found itself in the Convent Station section of the adjacent Morris Township.
The Rabbinical College of America, one of the largest Chabad Lubavitch Chasidic yeshivas in the world is located in Morristown. The Rabbinical College of America has a Baal Teshuva yeshiva for students of diverse Jewish backgrounds, named Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim. The New Jersey Regional Headquarters for the worldwide Chabad Lubavitch movement is located on the campus.