Morris County, Kansas

Morris County (standard abbreviation: MR) is a located in the  of. As of, the population is 6,104. The largest city and is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,820 (703 ). 1,806 km² (697 sq mi) of it is land and 14 km² (5 sq mi) of it (0.78%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (northeast)
 * (southeast)
 * (south)
 * (southwest)
 * (west)

History
Council Grove, established in 1825, was an important supply station on the. The town was also the site of an encampment by John C. Fremont in 1845 and in 1849 the Overland Mail established a supply headquarters there.

The county was originally organized as Wise County in 1855. The county was named for Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise. When Wise presided over the hanging of Abolitionist at  in 1859, the county was renamed Morris, in honor of Thomas Morris, a former United States Senator from Ohio who was as an opponent of slavery.

In 1851 the Methodist Church established an Indian Mission at Morris County where thirty Kaw boys lived and studied until 1854 when they removed to Oklahoma.

Between 1877 and 1879 staked out a settlement in Morris County for African-American's, known as "," migrating from the  south.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 6,104 people, 2,539 households, and 1,777 families residing in the county. The was 3/km² (9/sq mi). There were 3,160 housing units at an average density of 2/km² (4/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 97.49%, 0.34% or , 0.33% , 0.23% , 0.02% , 0.70% from , and 0.88% from two or more races. 2.23% of the population were or  of any race.



There were 2,539 households out of which 30.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.70% were living together, 6.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.00% were non-families. 28.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.20% under the age of 18, 5.60% from 18 to 24, 23.90% from 25 to 44, 24.30% from 45 to 64, and 21.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 97.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $32,163, and the median income for a family was $39,717. Males had a median income of $28,912 versus $21,239 for females. The for the county was $18,491. About 6.70% of families and 9.00% of the population were below the, including 10.40% of those under age 18 and 13.30% of those age 65 or over.

Incorporated cities
Name and population (2004 estimate):
 * , 2,253
 * , 492
 * , 328
 * , 189
 * , 81
 * , 72
 * , 21

Less than 1 sqkm of (pop. 2,469) is within the county border with the majority of the city in. The unincorporated hamlet of Skiddy lies less than one mile south of the Geary County line in north central Morris County.

Townships
Morris County is divided into eleven. The cities of and  are considered governmentally independent and are excluded from the census figures for the townships. In the following table, the population center is the largest city (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size.

Unified school districts

 * Morris County USD 417