Why isn’t Morrison called Johnson, IL, or Johnsonville, or Johnson Grove?
The future town of Morrison, in Whiteside County, IL, was surveyed and laid out in 1855, due in great part to one of the original proprietors: Lyman Johnson. He was a railroad contractor and builder who had arrived the year previous. In 1877, Charles Bent wrote, “…Mr. Johnson, by liberal dealing and good management, secured the location of the railway station where it now is, and the future of Morrison was then assured.”
The town was not named after him, but Jackson was the one who named it Morrison. How did that happen? It was a ploy, to honor the wealthy New York merchant, Charles Morrison. The latter was a friend of one of the town’s proprietors, W. H. VanEpps. No doubt you can imagine what the proprietors hoped Charles Morrison would feel, and then do, for the new town. He may have felt the honor forever, but the business prosperity he had enjoyed, Bent wrote, “swept his prosperity away and left him a poor man.”
Naming is determined by reason, even if lost to time. There is ample criteria to support the name of Whiteside County. Come to the Morrison Historical Society program on Sunday, October 9, 2016, to learn why we have reason to be proud of our County’s name. Whiteside City would have been apt for our town!
Doors open at 1:00. Board of Trustees member Stephanie Vavra will speak at 1:30. Refreshments will be served after the program.