Morris became an important agricultural center when the I&M Canal opened in 1848. The remains of the historic Coleman Hardware building, now housing the Grundy County Historical Museum, and the nearby Gebhard Brewery recall the many industries that once thrived there. Its historic downtown streets and vintage homes reflect that past, while the I&M Canal Trail, Gebhard Woods, Chapin Park, the old Rock Island Depot, Gebhard Woods State Park, Aux Sable's aqueduct, lock, and locktender's house, and Seneca's old grain elevator connect Morris to the wider canal landscape and its surviving historic sites.