The village was originally called "Louisville" by early French settlers, of which Andre Renouard and family is the first known, the Franchots staying with them their first winter. When incorporated in 1870, the name was changed to "Morris" so as to avoid confusion with the other Louisville, NY. The water of Butternut Creek was used to power many textile mills in the valley, including the Hargrave factory on Lake St. and Butternuts Wool & Cotton Co. just below the village. Spring Street off West main was laid out to a new plant that went bankrupt before machinery was installed when the local textile industry collapsed. More recently Spring St. has been abandoned with Morris Central School expansion over what had once been planned as a development.
As of the census of 2000, there were 591 people, 261 households, and 174 families residing in the village. The population density was 810.4 people per square mile. There were 284 housing units at an average density of 389.4 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 97.12% White, 0.34% Black or African American, 1.35% from other races, and 1.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.88% of the population. There were 261 households out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were married couplesliving together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.71. In the village, the population was spread out with 23.2% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 78.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.1 males. The median income for a household in the village was $32,417, and the median income for a family was $36,875. Males had a median income of $30,804 versus $25,750 for females. The per capita income for the village was $17,388. About 11.1% of families and 15.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.3% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.
