Morristown, NJ

[Thundertubs]

Morristown is a city of 18,000 in central North Jersey. It is about 20 miles west of Newark and is the seat of Morris County, the 16th wealthiest county in the US, and 3rd wealthiest in the NY metro area. Morristown has a busy downtown and is a major employment center. Despite it's tiny size (only 3 square miles), Morristown has some very affluent areas with large homes, and a more working class side of town as well.

Morristown was named after Lewis Morris, the British Governor of New Jersey in the 1740's.

















Morristown Green














Speedwell Ave goes through the heavily Latino north side of Morristown. The city is 34% Hispanic.







































Just behind the large office complex on the edge of Morristown Green is a small but surprisingly grim low income area known as The Hollow


























Just outside of town is Morristown National Historical Park. It was the site of an encampment for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

There are preserved barracks and stuff, but I just took a walk in the woods.



There were a lot of downed trees from Hurricane Sandy and the following weeks' Nor'easter.








Who is from Morristown?

Tom Verlaine, guitarist for the 1970's band Television
Gene Shalit, film critic with famous mustache
Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist
Alfred Vail, inventor of Morse Code

[tdawg]

Morristown would be tops on my list of places to live in NJ.

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures. Morristown looks pretty decent, and has a similar look to Somerset, which makes sense.

[ColDayMan]

I always dug Morristown.

[Yorkie]

..What a true robust intact looking downtown core. NO chain restaurants and big box stores.......But the local merchants are most likely looking over their shoulders for the bloood suckers of mediocracy.

[dc_denizen]

Great thread. Northern NJ is a patchwork of some of the coolest towns, large and small, in the country, all kind of mashed together into a unique mix.

This region is criminally underrated and doesn't get anything close to its due nationally or internationally, but easily beats most other US and Canadian cities for true urbanity, culture, historical sites and famous and culturally significant residents.

Love the tree of life shot!

[kcexpress69]

Nice pics...great three square miles packed in!!

[sterlippo1]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Great thread. Northern NJ is a patchwork of some of the coolest towns, large and small, in the country, all kind of mashed together into a unique mix.

This region is criminally underrated and doesn't get anything close to its due nationally or internationally, but easily beats most other US and Canadian cities for true urbanity, culture, historical sites and famous and culturally significant residents.

Love the tree of life shot!

good point, i like Westfield among others and there are a slew of 'em, you're right

[STLgasm]

Great great great!

[Crawford]

Great pics. There are so many towns like this on the suburban rail lines heading out of NYC.

Morristown is kinda interesting in that it's both gentrified and working class immigrant-heavy. It seems to have a nice balance.

There are two big transit-oriented development zones in Morristown.

The first, near the rail station, consists of a number of high density apartment buildings in planning. The second, along Speedwell Ave., includes around 1,000 units in midrises, and has broken ground.

[Kingofthehill]

Even though I am not a fan of the very working class woodframe SFH housing you see alot of in NJ/suburban NYC, I can't help but admire the raw urbanity of alot of these places.

[Evergrey]

awesome town... certainly a lot of places to eat there

[Danny]

I´ve liked Morristown after watching your nice shots! Thanks for sharing.

It looks a comfortable town to live in. Those red bows in the square are pretty for Christmas.

Congrats and greetings from Madrid, Spain!

[glowrock]

Fantastic shots, Thundertubs! Nice work!

Aaron (Glowrock)

[Chico Loco]

Great work with the photos! I used to live there, and am now in Denver. I lived in Morristown for 5 years. It packs an incredible amount of density and things to do in such a small area - less than 3 square miles. It feels much larger.

I wish they would merge Morristown and Morris Township and be done with it.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by Chico Loco

I wish they would merge Morristown and Morris Township and be done with it.

Wouldn't that dilute the essence of Morristown?

[Chico Loco]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Wouldn't that dilute the essence of Morristown?

Good point. I never thought of that. Morristown, as you can see in the photos, is a town in name only. It's really a city.

Morris Township is very suburban - almost rural in some parts.

It would certainly kill its density.

Maybe much of the "old Morristown" would then be considered the "new downtown" of the combined municipalities. Hard to say!

[Jelly Roll]

Originally Posted by Chico Loco

Good point. I never thought of that. Morristown, as you can see in the photos, is a town in name only. It's really a city.

Morris Township is very suburban - almost rural in some parts.

It would certainly kill its density.

Maybe much of the "old Morristown" would then be considered the "new downtown" of the combined municipalities. Hard to say!

Would be an interesting mix. Average household income in Morris Township is almost double the average of Morristown. I have only been there a couple of times so I do not really know how well that idea would be received.

[Chef]

Nice thread, New Jersey has a lot of good urbanism that gets overlooked because it is sandwiched between New York and Philly.