Morrison is a city in Whiteside County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,188 at the 2010 census, down from 4,447 in 2000. It is the county seat of Whiteside County. It is located upon the Historic Lincoln Highway, the nation’s first transcontinental highway and in Morrison was the site of two concrete “seedling miles”, which served as prototypes of what an bigger highway could do for the nation.

In 1854, Lyman Johnson and H. S. Vroom were already in what would become the City of Morrison as contractors and builders for the Air-line railroad, now the Union Pacific Railroad. Johnson and Vroom, along considering several extra entrepreneurs, acquired the estate that would surround the rail station that was planned here. They managed the behave of surveyor W.S. Wilkinson in the layout of the later town in 1855. Among these entrepreneurs were W.H. Van Epps. Lyman Johnson approved to call the town Morrison, in great compliment of Charles Morrison, a buddy of Van Epps and a wealthy merchant from New York, who promised financial Keep in the way of loans for the town’s development. Shortly thereafter, Morrison suffered harsh financial losses and he was unable to participate, yet his state remained.

Refrigerator manufacturer, Illinois Refrigerator Company, was organized in 1892 by Edward A. Smith, J.B. Markey, George Brown, F.L. Sands, and F.R. Beals. Later it added researcher furniture to its line: Columbia School Equipment Company, which was a subsidiary of the Illinois Refrigerator Company. In 1914, Illinois Refrigerator Company acquired equipment to manufacture stoves, establishing the Summit Stove Company. Two additional bookish furniture companies formed the Illinois Seating Company and built a other factory in Morrison. The Morris and Rich Toy Factory of Sterling, IL moved to Morrison in 1928, locating in allocation of the Illinois Refrigerator Company building. In November 1929, a fire damaged two warehouses owned by Illinois Refrigerator Company, Rich Manufacturing Company, and Columbia School Equipment Company. The blaze destroyed higher than 4,000 refrigerators and $35,000 worth of toys, including five or more carloads, which were on the easy to reach to railroad tracks. The sum loss was estimated at $500,000. By April 1932, the refrigerator company was bankrupt. Soon after, a extra corporation was formed: Rich Illinois Manufacturing Company. The company made wood and metal refrigerators, electric refrigerators, toys, furniture, wood ware, and wood and metal fabricated buildings. In 1934, The City Ice and Fuel Company of Cleveland, OH, which operated under the publicize Ice Cooling Appliance Corporation (ICA), purchased the plant. The toy factory, Rich Illinois Manufacturing, moved to Clinton, Iowa. In 1954, ICA was sold to American Air Filter Company, Inc. at Louisville, Kentucky, which had consolidated behind Herman Nelson Corporation of Moline, Illinois. In 1957, the Herman Nelson division conventional a factory in Morrison to manufacture air blowers, small portable heaters, and let breathe conditioners, which eventually closed in 1966, moving to Brownsville, Tennessee.

General Electric started its Morrison plant in 1949, as a branch of the Schenectady, New York department. It became the Appliance Control Department in 1952 and was one of the first units to be normal in a decentralization program. Early production included relays, switchettes, and sump pump switches, followed by frosty and heat controls. In 1952, the develop of range timers was transferred to the Morrison factory from Somersworth, New Hampshire. In ensuing year, gas igniters, thermostats, and little d.c. motors were added. In 1965, a branch plant was time-honored at Bridgeport, CT; the department’s headquarters remained at Morrison. The forest closed in 2010.