According to Geotargit, there are 19 towns named Morris in the world and 15 Morris’s in the United States. However, the first one I looked up was in West Virginia and it was said to be a ghost town. The next one was said to be in Pennsylvania, but there turned out to be a Morrisdale and 2 Morrisvilles in this state but no Morris. The next state listed was Oklahoma, and I actually found a town named Morris in this state. It was near Okmulgee and had a population of 1,479 souls but was not in the southeastern part of the state as indicated.
And so it continued for 24 hours. I finally concluded that there are only about 5 true Morris’s in this country and one in Canada but in Manitoba, not Alberta. Morris, Manitoba, had about 300 more people than the Morris in Oklahoma, and I concluded that only a fool would continue with this. But being a fool I continued anyway.
The next Morris was said to be in New York, but the only Morris in this state was Morrisville. Its population was given as under 3,000. There was a slightly larger town named Morrisonville in this state. New York’s neighbor New Jersey contained a town named Morris Plains with about 5,500 people living in it, but it had no Morris. The next 10 states contained 5 non-Morrises but 4 with actual towns named Morris. They were in Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota and in Illinois southwest of Chicago. Towns named Morris actually exist! The Georgia Morris was named for the son of a railway agent. the Morris in Alabama was named after Mary Hunter “Mae” Morris. The Illinois Morris was named for Issac N. Morris, the Commissioner of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The Minnesota Morris was named for a railroad official. One must conclude that there has never been a Morris who got famous and had a lot of towns named after him or her.
To make this short there are actual towns named Morris in Manitoba, Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. The largest town with this name is probably either the Morris in Minnesota or the one in Illinois that has a population of almost 14,000. The rest are villes, towns, burgs, and dales or the like. There is a Morrice in Michigan.
I will not swear to having found all of the towns named Morris. There are 3 states with counties with this name. They are Texas, New Jersey, and Kansas.
Geotargit also says there are towns named Morris in such distant places as Liberia, Algeria, and Cuba. They conclude that there are 19 towns named Morris in the entire world, but I have a hard time believing that anyone in Annaba, Algeria, is telling strangers that they live in Morris, Algeria.
The most interesting fact I learned in all of this is that Morris, MS is named for a blind harmonica player named Morris Cummings. He has died.
Hank
Security Conscious 