Because the community neither died nor prospered, it has retained its mid-nineteenth-century architecture into the present, making it one of the National Road's least-changed settlements.

Settled in the early nineteenth century, Morristown prospered after the National Road became its main street in 1826.

In its first decades, the village was heavily dependent on the road; during the 1850s, more than forty National Road-related businesses lined its streets.

[2] In early 1980, the Morristown Historic District was declared, with boundaries encompassing 42 acres (17 ha); seventy of the district's eighty-six buildings were rated as contributing properties, as was the village cemetery.

[1] Limited destruction and limited new construction has left Morristown with nearly all of its mid-19th century built environment,[2] enabling the district to qualify for the Register both because of its place in area history and because of its historic architecture.