,
Washington's headquarters from 1779 to 1780 during the
Revolutionary War Present-day Morristown was initially inhabited by the
Lenni Lenape Native Americans for up to 6,000 years prior to exploration of Europeans. The first European settlements in this portion of New Jersey were established by
Sweden and the
Netherlands in the early 17th century, when significant trade in furs existed between the natives and the Europeans at temporary posts. It became part
New Netherland, a Dutch colony, 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, and named the
Province of New Jersey.
18th century Morristown was settled around 1715 by English
Presbyterians from
Southold, New York, on
Long Island and
New Haven, Connecticut, as the village of New Hanover. The town's central location and road connections led to its selection as the seat of the new
Morris County shortly after its separation from
Hunterdon County on March 15, 1739. The village and county were named for
Lewis Morris, the first and then sitting
royal governor of a united colony of
New Jersey. In 1777, General Washington and the
Continental Army marched from the victories at
Trenton and
Princeton to encamp near Morristown from January to May. Washington's headquarters during that first encampment was at
Jacob Arnold's Tavern, located at the
Morristown Green in the center of Morristown. Morristown was selected for its extremely strategic location. It was between Philadelphia and New York and near New England while being protected by the
Watchung Mountains from the bulk of
British troops camped in New York City. It also was chosen for the skills and trades of the residents, local industries and natural resources to provide arms, and what was thought to be the ability of the community to provide enough food to support the army. The churches were used for
inoculations for
smallpox. That first headquarters, Arnold's Tavern, was eventually moved south of the green onto Mount Kemble Avenue to become
All Souls' Hospital in the late 19th century. It suffered a fire in 1918, and the original structure was demolished, but new buildings for the hospital were built directly across the street. From December 1779 to June 1780, the Continental Army's second encampment at Morristown was at
Jockey Hollow. Then, Washington's headquarters in Morristown was located at the
Ford Mansion, a large mansion near what was then the edge of town. Ford's widow and children shared the house with
Martha Washington and officers of the Continental Army. The winter of 1780 was the worst winter of the Revolutionary War. The starvation was complicated by extreme inflation of money and lack of pay for the army. The entire Pennsylvania contingent successfully mutinied. Later, 200 New Jersey soldiers also attempted unsuccessfully to mutiny. Many soldiers died, due to weak health. During Washington's second stay, in March 1780, he declared
St. Patrick's Day a holiday to honor his many
Irish troops. Martha Washington traveled from Virginia and remained with her husband each winter throughout the war. The
Marquis de Lafayette came to Washington in Morristown to inform him that France would be sending ships and trained soldiers to aid the Continental Army. Ford Mansion, Jockey Hollow, and
Fort Nonsense are all preserved as part of
Morristown National Historical Park, managed by the
National Park Service, which has the distinction among
historic preservationists of being the first
National Historical Park established in the United States. During Washington's stay,
Benedict Arnold was court-martialed at Dickerson's Tavern, on Spring Street, for charges related to profiteering from military supplies at
Philadelphia. His admonishment was made public, but Washington quietly promised the hero, Arnold, to make it up to him.
Alexander Hamilton courted and wed
Elizabeth Schuyler at a residence where Washington's personal physician resided. Locally known as the Schuyler-Hamilton House, the
Dr. Jabez Campfield House is listed on both the New Jersey and
National Register of Historic Places. At Morristown Green, there is a statue commemorating the meeting of George Washington, the young
Marquis de LaFayette, and young Alexander Hamilton as they discussed forthcoming aid from
French ships and troops being sent by
King Louis XVI to aid the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War. Morristown's Burnham Park has a statue, "Father of the American Revolution", depicting
Thomas Paine, who wrote
Common Sense in 1776, which urged a complete break from
British rule and helped inspire the
American Revolution. The bronze statue by sculptor
Georg J. Lober shows Paine in 1776 using a drum as a table during the withdrawal of the army across New Jersey composing
Crisis 1. He wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls..." The statue was dedicated on July 4, 1950.
19th century The idea for constructing the
Morris Canal is credited to Morristown businessman George P. Macculloch, who in 1822 convened a group to discuss his concept for a canal. The group included
Governor of New Jersey Isaac Halstead Williamson, which led to approval of the proposal by the
New Jersey Legislature later that year. The canal was used for a century. In July 1825 during his
15 month return tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette returned to Morristown, where a ball was held in his honor at the 1807
Sansay House on DeHart Street (the edifice still stands as of 2011). In 1827,
St. Peter's Episcopal Church was founded at the behest of Bishop
George Washington Doane and many prominent Morristown Families, including George P. Macculloch, of the Morris Canal. When the Church was rebuilt by the then-internationally famous architectural firm,
McKim, Mead and White, beginning in 1889, the congregation erected one of the United States finest church buildings –a stone, English-gothic church complete with fined stained glass, and a long, decorated interior.
Antoine le Blanc, a French immigrant laborer, murdered the Sayre family and their
servant (or possibly slave), Phoebe. He was tried and convicted of murder of the Sayres (but not of Phoebe) on August 13, 1833. On September 6, 1833, Le Blanc became the last person hanged on the Morristown Green. Until late 2006, the house where the murders were committed was known as "Jimmy's Haunt," which is purported to be haunted by Phoebe's ghost because her murder never saw justice. Jimmy's Haunt was torn down to make way for a bank in 2007.
Samuel F. B. Morse and
Alfred Vail built the first
telegraph at the
Speedwell Ironworks in Morristown on January 6, 1838. The first telegraph message was
A patient waiter is no loser. The first public demonstration of the invention occurred five days later as an early step toward the
Information Age.
Jacob Arnold's Tavern, the first headquarters for Washington in Morristown and site of
Benedict Arnold's 1780 trial, was purchased by Morristown historian
Julia Keese Nelson Colles (1840-1913) to save it from demolition in 1886. It was moved by horse-power in the winter of 1887 from "the green" (after being stuck on Bank Street for about six weeks) to a site south on Mount Kemble Avenue at what is now a parking lot for the Atlantic RIMM Rehabilitation Hospital. It became a boarding house for four years until it was converted by the
Grey Nuns from
Montreal into
All Souls' Hospital, the first general hospital in Morris County. George and Martha Washington's second floor ballroom became a chapel and the first floor tavern became a ward for patients. In 1910, the late
Augustus Lefebvre Revere (brother of hospital founder
Paul Revere) willed the Hospital $10,000 to be used for the erection of a new building. This fund was used 8 years later when the original Arnold's Tavern building was lost to a fire. The entire organization, nurses, doctors, and patients of All Souls' Hospital were then moved across Mount Kemble Avenue,
U.S. Route 202, to the newly built brick hospital building. On December 18, 1843, the Bethel
African Methodist Episcopal Church was incorporated. This was the first congregation established by blacks in Morris County. It is still active. The first site of the Church was located at 13 Spring Street and served as the only schoolhouse for colored children until 1870. The Church relocated to its present site at 59 Spring Street in 1874. The first Jews moved to Morristown in the 1850s, but much larger numbers of
Ashkenazi Jews migrated to the region from Eastern Europe in the 1890s, which led to the incorporation of the
Morristown Jewish Center in 1899. Today there are several Jewish synagogues in Morristown reflecting the diversity of the community. In the 1880s, the town's residents were primarily farmers. The small amount of stores in the Morristown Green town center were only open during the evening to accommodate farmers who did not leave their work during the daytime. There were only a few stores in town, including
Adams & Fairchild grocers and
P. H. Hoffman & Son clothiers, both located in the
Arnold's Tavern on the Morristown Green.
Gilded Age of Morristown in Morristown, known as "Millionaries Row" Starting in the mid-1800s, Morristown became a popular summer retreat for some of New York City's wealthiest residents. From the 1870s onwards, immense estates were built up along once rural thoroughfares; Madison Avenue, which runs along Morristown and
Madison, New Jersey, became known as "the street of the 100 millionaires" due to the sheer extravagance of the houses that were constructed. Between 1880 and 1929, the Gilded Age of Morristown occurred, when dozens of "millionaires with large fortunes built their estates" in Morristown and Morris Township. In the
1880 United States census, the town had 5,418 residents, which grew to 8,156 in 1890. Christian charity organization
Market Street Mission was established on 9 Market Street beside the
Morristown Green in response to the large number of saloons on Market Street. Beginning on March 18, 1889, the Mission hosted nightly meetings to aid and convert those with alcoholism, opioid use, and homelessness. As of 2022, the organization continues to operate a homeless shelter, meals, and emergency services, along with men's
drug addiction recovery groups, community counseling, a chapel, and a
thrift store. This became
Fosterfields, a
Jersey cow farm. It was later managed by
Caroline Rose Foster, though most of its herd was sold in a 1927 auction. In 1979 it was donated to the
Morris County Park Commission. The site currently houses a living history museum and Revere's historic house. In 1902, the
New York Herald described Morristown as "the Millionaire City of the Nation." The
Herald claimed it "contains the richest and least known colony of wealthy people in the world." It identified 45 millionaires (15 of whom were worth over $10 million) who had purchased country homes in Morristown to avoid "lavish display" and seek "freedom from notoriety." The newspaper named some of them including lawyer
George Griswold Frelinghuysen, carpet-making heir
Eugene Higgins, banker
Otto Hermann Kahn,
Luther Kountze, and
Louis A. Thebaud. , built in 1912, houses the Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Even smaller estates without deer herds,
polo fields or private gas plants necessitated "multiple indoor and outdoor employees" such as "butlers, housekeeprs, parlor-maids and upstairs maids; governesses, nannies, and tutors; cooks and kitchen maids, coachmen, grooms, and stable boys; managers, care-takers, watchmen; gardeners and assistants."
21st century On January 5, 2009, five red lights were spotted in the Morristown area night skies, who gained significant press coverage and 9-1-1 calls. On April 1, 2009, the perpetrators revealed their hoax by publicizing footage of its creation, which consisted of helium balloons and flares. The event became nationally known as the
Morristown UFO hoax. ==Geography==