It is a small speck of land, totaling 2.14 square miles, where one can truly enjoy what small town living is all about. It is a place where its students demonstrate strong academic performance and recognized for schools that serves all of its students well. It is located on the Historic Lincoln Highway, the nation’s first transcontinental highway and in Morrison was the site of two concrete seedling miles, which served as a prototype of what an improved highway could do for the nation. It is a place with one in about 40 U.S. companies that harvests and processes peat, used for horticultural purposes. It is a place with lower housing costs, lower crime rates, lower property taxes, and a lower cost of living compared to most. It is a place where horse enthusiasts travel from afar to enjoy scenic rides on a well-marked and well-maintained14-mile trail, along with a complete equestrian area, offering watering wells, trailer parking, hitching posts, and camping sites. It is place that puts on a unique community event focusing on the arts and a source of community pride that started with 250 painted masterpieces and has grown to an all-time high of 1700 squares last year. It is home to the Morrison Mustangs, state champions in football, softball, wrestling, scholastic bowl, and pons. It is a place that has a little bit of everything: a grocery store, a pharmacy, 4 convenience stores, a hardware store, 2 dance studios, 2 dollar stores, 2 golf courses, and a variety of restaurants. It is the county seat and administrative center of our county. It is a place that offers many opportunities to explore an interest, meet new people, or enjoy camaraderie in one of the many clubs such as table tennis, photography, world affairs, square dancing, pheasant hunting, and flying model airplanes. It is located only 14 miles from the largest river system in North America and a little over 100 miles from the 3rd largest city in the US. It is a place with some of the best fishing in Illinois offering anglers the chance to catch largemouth bass, catfish, sunfish, bluegill, muskie and walleye. Is a place that lies 41.81 degrees north latitude and 89.97 degrees west longitude, placing it near the 90 degrees west line of longitude. It is home to an international company that has worked on projects such as the Milwaukee Art Museum, St. Louis Cardinal’s Stadium, and currently the World Trade Center Tower 4. It is a place surrounded by some of the best land for growing corn and soybeans and some of the most down to earth people working that land. It is a place that has a full complement of medical and health services including a hospital, 3 clinics, 2 dentists, 2 optometrists, 4 chiropractors, 3 long-term care units and medical air transport, that is unbelievable for a town this size. It is a place that hosts the final round of off road racing of motorcycles and ATV’s, bringing competitors from across the country and from as far away as New Zealand, with broadcasting on ESPN. It is a place with some excellent public services including a beautiful library, police department, volunteer fire department, well-plowed streets, and a large outdoor recreational complex. It is a place with a historic downtown… a downtown whose architectural elements are shared by many small towns across America, but as a collective whole are unique to our community and civic identity and historic for the interesting stories and history they possess and that we share. It is a place that educates students in engineering technology with an emphasis in Computer Aided Design & Drafting, Surveying, Building Construction, Highway Construction, Soils & Materials Testing and System & Networking Administration. It is the corporate headquarters to a nationally acclaimed franchise, operating approximately 350 car washes in 21 different states. It holds the distinction of having the first time lock to be installed on a bank vault door at the First National Bank back in 1874. It is a place with stately homes built by the communities’ founding merchants, bankers, publishers, educators, attorneys, and farmers, showcasing their prosperity. It is a place that manufactures ignition coils for industrial engines; vacuum and air machines; cabinets; candles; and candies. It is the birthplace of a Nobel Prize winner in physics for his measurement of the charge on the electron and for his work on the photoelectric effect. And lastly, it is a community with some very smart, driven business people. People that are willing to take risks, learn from their failures, are proactive rather than reactive, will leave their comfort zones, are hard working, and understand the need for change. The people that are moving our community forward.