Morris County
New Jersey (NJ)

Morris County Web Site
NJ Transit Web Site

Morris County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey, about 25 mi (40 km) west of New York City. As of the United States 2000 Census, the population was 470,212, and grew to 493,160 as of the Census Bureau's 2006 estimate.  It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Morristown.

Morris County was the sixth-wealthiest county in the United States by median household income, and ranked tenth by per capita income.  It is the ninth-wealthiest county in the United States by personal per-capita income, the highest rank in New Jersey.  The county ranked third in the New York Metropolitan area in terms of median income.

History

The area of Morris County was inhabited by the Lenape prior to the coming of the Europeans. Although trading with the Lenape had occurred consistently while the area was part of the Dutch colony, European settlements only began in the early 1700s while it was the English Province of New Jersey.

Morris County was created on March 15, 1739, from portions of Hunterdon County.  The county was named for the Governor of the Province of New Jersey, Colonel Lewis Morris.  In later years Sussex County (on June 8, 1753) and, after the revolution, Warren County (on November 20, 1824, from portions of Sussex County) were carved out of what had been the original area of Morris County under English rule.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 481 square miles (1,247 km?), of which, 469 square miles (1,215 km?) of it is land and 12 square miles (32 km?) of it (2.55%) is water.

The county rises in elevation and relief from east to west, with only the more developed eastern suburbs in the Passaic River valley being relatively level. The highest point is at 1,395 feet (425 m) above sea level in the Mahlon Dickerson Reservation in Jefferson Township; the lowest point is about 140 feet (42.6 m) in elevation, at Two Bridges, the confluence of the Passaic and Pompton rivers.