[20] Morristown has been called "the military capital of the American Revolution" because of its strategic role in the war for independence from Great Britain.

The county, and ultimately Morristown itself, was named for the popular Governor of the Province, Lewis Morris, who championed land ownership rights for colonists.

[28][29] Present-day Morristown was initially inhabited by the Lenni Lenape Native Americans for up to 6,000 years prior to exploration of Europeans.

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.

[31] By the middle of the 18th century, Morristown had 250 residents, with two churches, a courthouse, two taverns, two schools, several stores, and numerous mills and farms nearby.

George Washington first came to Morristown in May 1773, two years before the Revolutionary War broke out, and traveled from there to New York City with John Parke Custis, his stepson, and Lord Stirling.

That first headquarters, Arnold's Tavern, was eventually moved .5 miles (800 m) south of the green onto Mount Kemble Avenue to become All Souls' Hospital in the late 19th century.

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.

[43][44] 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.

[46][47] 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.

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.

Antoine le Blanc, a French immigrant laborer, murdered the Sayre family and their servant (or possibly slave), Phoebe.

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 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south on Mount Kemble Avenue at what is now a parking lot for the Atlantic RIMM Rehabilitation Hospital.

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.

[70] 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.

[66]This included New York warehouse and grain broker Charles Grant Foster, who bought the farm estate and mansion of Union Army general Joseph Warren Revere in 1881.

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.

[77] 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.

"[77] The Gilded Age of Morristown ended in 1929, due to the "high cost of maintaining the estates, increasing income taxes, and the stock market crash" that led to the Great Depression.

[79][80] 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.

[96][97] 9.8% of Morristown residents identified themselves as being of Colombian American ancestry in the 2000 Census, the eighth- highest percentage of the population of any municipality in the United States.

[101] 4.5% of Morristown residents identified themselves as being of Honduran American ancestry in the 2000 Census, the sixth-highest percentage of the population of any municipality in the United States.

[240] In addition, Villa Walsh Academy, a private Catholic college preparatory school conducted by the Religious Teachers Filippini, is located in Morristown.

[246] In 1999, Morristown changed its zoning code to designate the area around the train station as a "Transit Village Core" for mixed-use.

[249] The town benefited from shortened commuting times to New York City due to the "Midtown Direct" service New Jersey Transit instituted in the 1990s.

NJ Transit local bus service is offered from the Morristown rail station, Morristown Medical Center and Headquarters Plaza on the 871, 872, 873, 874, 875 and 880 bus routes,[250][251] replacing service that had been offered on the MCM1, MCM2, MCM3, MCM4, MCM8 and MCM10 routes until 2010, when subsidies to the local provider were eliminated as part of budget cuts.

While owned by the town, the airport is physically located in nearby Hanover Township, 3 miles east of Morristown proper.

[260] Hometown Tales, a public-access television show and podcast chronicling stories and urban legends from around the world, is loosely based in Morristown.