The district and its schools are named after Julius Sterling Morton because he was friends with Cicero resident and fur trader Portus Baxter Weare.

[10] In 1892, there were reports that the town of Cicero was beginning to work to consolidate a school district that would include the current Morton Park and Hawthorne district with one consisting of the towns of Clyde and LaVergne, for means of adding what was called a "High School Department".

[11] Though only seven miles from downtown Chicago, the school, in its early history was situated on prairie and farmland.

[16] In 1924, during a basketball game in the school's gym, a major fire erupted which caused US$900,000 in damage.

[23] The graduation of the class of 1956 included a commencement address by the visiting mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, Harold Roe Bartle.

[25] In 1966, Morton East's student government sponsored a performance by the Chad Mitchell Trio, which at the time included a relatively unknown John Denver.

[29] Morton East did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on the Prairie State Achievements Examination, which with the ACT comprises the state assessments used to fulfill the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

In addition, the school overall, and one of its student subgroups failed to meet minimum expectations in terms of graduation rates.

Marge Scherer, author of Challenging the Whole Child: Reflections on Best Practices in Learning, Teaching and Leadership, wrote that the school decided to "reject" the demographics of the school, considered disadvantaged, "as an excuse for low science scores.

"[30] In the year 2015, J.Sterling Morton High School District 201 was named the national leader among medium-sized school districts in expanding access to Advanced Placement program courses while improving AP exam performance.

Morton is also a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) which governs most sports and competitive activities in the state.

[32] The school sponsors interscholastic teams for young men and women in: basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and water polo.

[35] In 1941, the school hosted an amateur boxing night which featured Barney Ross, Johnny Coulon, and Battling Nelson (all former world champions) as referees.

[37] Between 1983 and 1985, the Chicago Bears intermittently used Morton East for an indoor training facility, including their Super Bowl XX championship season.