Billed as "The Community of Caring", Morris Plains is a small town where social people soon get to know everyone else, which can be simultaneously heartwarming and irritating. Teenagers sometimes refer to it as "the Bubble", presumably because it is in many ways a stereotypical idyllic suburb, i.e. there is little for teens to do, and everyone is upper middle class, so life in Morris Plains does not reflect "the real world".
The main attraction in Morris Plains is Arthur's, a restaurant located on Speedwell Avenue, Morris Plains's "Main Street". Arthur's is famous throughout the area for its steaks, and is of absolutely no interest to vegetarians. Teens driving through the town are likely to stop at Quik Chek, a conveniently located 24-hour convenience store, where they can buy soda and sandwiches, and then stand around in the parking lot and talk.
When Morris Plains teenagers wish to be entertained, and they are tired of hanging out at someone's house, there are few options. Some kids like to walk around the woods and parks that are plentiful in Morris Plains, although the woods are gradually giving way to housing developments. There are exciting things in the woods, most famously Greystone, a partially abandoned insane asylum. The abandoned buildings are full of artifacts, as if everyone just ran out the door one day and left everything behind. Kids who feel daring go into Greystone to be frightened by its creepiness or to smoke up and drink. Unsurprisingly, they are often arrested by the police. A slightly less risky activity involving Greystone is to drive through it at night, and turn your headlights off, which plunges you into total darkness, since the abandoned buildings do not have lights. Greystone is technically in Parsippany, but the nearest houses are in Morris Plains, and as the municipal boundary is not obvious, most people think it is in Morris Plains.
The other popular activity in Morris Plains is going away from it. As local band Optimus Prime put it in their humorous song Morris Plains, "they've got a train station so people can leave!" Indeed, the train station is popular, as many people commute into New York City for business and pleasure. Otherwise, people go to Morristown next door, where the shops and restaurants, the movie theater, and the high school are all located (the Morris Plains school system only goes up to grade 8).
Morris Plains is also a major base of operations for Pfizer, which has a large complex that creates jobs for a few thousand workers. The plant belonged to Warner-Lambert before it was bought out by Pfizer, and it now attracts twice as many helicopters as it did before.
Geography
Morris Plains is located at 40°49'55" North, 74°28'53" West (40.832049, -74.481342)1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 6.8 km² (2.6 mi²). 6.7 km² (2.6 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.76% water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 5,236 people, 1,955 households, and 1,477 families residing in the borough. The population density is 780.6/km² (2,018.7/mi²). There are 1,994 housing units at an average density of 297.3/km² (768.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough is 92.91% White, 1.34% African American, 0.06% Native American, 4.32% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 0.40% from other races, and 0.88% from two or more races. 2.69% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 1,955 households out of which 33.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.0% are married couples living together, 7.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 24.4% are non-families. 19.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.6% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.63 and the average family size is 3.05.
In the borough the population is spread out with 23.5% under the age of 18, 4.4% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 26.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 41 years. For every 100 females there are 92.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 86.6 males.
The median income for a household in the borough is $84,806, and the median income for a family is $98,333. Males have a median income of $75,040 versus $44,554 for females. The per capita income for the borough is $36,553. 2.4% of the population and 1.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 3.0% are under the age of 18 and 2.4% are 65 or older.