The City of Morgan Hill was incorporated in 1906 and is located in the Southern Santa Clara Valley. The valley at this point is three to four miles wide and formed by the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west and the Diablo Mountain Range to the east. Morgan Hill encompasses an area of approximately 9.4 square miles and is approximately 12 miles south of central San Jose, 10 miles north of Gilroy, and 15 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. U.S. Highway 101 bisects the valley and is the major transportation corridor providing access to northern Santa Clara County and the San Francisco Bay Area to the north, and Monterey and San Benito Counties to the south. U.S. Highway 101 follows the historic route of El Camino Real and formerly ran through the center of Morgan Hill as the Monterey Highway. This situation was changed by the completion in October 1984 of a segment of the South Valley Freeway. Starting at Cochrane Road in Morgan Hill, 101 now runs parallel to and east of Monterey Highway, intersecting Monterey Highway - the old U.S. 101 route south of Gilroy.

At the time of Morgan Hill’s incorporation, it had a population of approximately 1,500. The City’s early economic base was centered around agriculture. Its commercial growth was along Monterey Highway due to the fact that until late 1984, Monterey Highway was also the U.S. Highway 101 route. From its beginning, Morgan Hill grew at a moderate and steady pace for the subsequent half of a century. During the post World War II period, the City very slowly began its transformation from an agricultural service center to a suburban residential community. However, growth accelerated significantly in the 1970's as Silicon Valley developed and workers were attracted to Morgan Hill’s small town, family atmosphere and more reasonable housing prices. From a population of 5,579 in 1970 the number of City residents more than tripled to 17,076 persons in 1980. Since 1990, the City’s population has increased at an average rate of 2.5%. As of January 1, 1997, the City’s population is recorded at 29,246 persons.

The natural hazards in the Morgan Hill area include earthquake, flooding, landslides, drought, fire - both urban and wildland, cold weather freezing, and dam failure.

Both ‘Leroy Anderson’ (1950) and ‘Elmer J. Chesbro’ (1955) are earth, clay and rock fill dams with 91,280 and 8,090 acre feet capacity respectively. The defined watercourses which flow through Morgan Hill are Llagas, Coyote, Edmundson, West Little Llagas, Corralitos, Paradise, Tennant, Maple, and Foothill Creeks. The area is unusual in that creeks originate in both the Diablo Range to the east and in the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west. Waters originating in the area are conveyed to Monterey Bay via the Pajaro River or to San Francisco Bay via Coyote Creek. With the natural flow of water into the South Santa Clara Basin, the propensity for flooding becomes a yearly reality depending on rainfall amounts and duration.

There are three major faults running through South Santa Clara County. The San Andreas fault runs along the Santa Cruz mountains to the west. The Sergeant fault comes off the San Andreas fault in Morgan Hill and runs in a diagonal fashion south towards the center of the valley. Calaveras fault runs along the base of the Diablo range to the east of Morgan Hill. All three faults are part of the San Andreas system and could slip separately or concurrently.

Much of Morgan Hills’ terrain is a mixture of urban and rural wildland. Dry conditions, high winds, thick brush, residences in wildlands and inaccessible terrain combine to put several areas at risk.

Heavy winter rains increase the growth of ground cover and brush each year, thereby increasing the available fuel for such fires each summer when the water table recedes leaving the surrounding hills very dry.

Some businesses in Morgan Hill are dependant on the use of hazardous materials. They use a variety of chemicals, some of them hazardous, to make their product. Because these chemicals are used, stored and transported daily it is possible that Morgan Hill could experience a chemical spill that could effect a large area.

Chemicals are being transported by rail to other cities. An accident or derailment or defective equipment could possibly effect a large area that would necessitate the evacuation of certain areas within the city.

On a smaller scale, many household products contain chemicals that are poisonous, corrosive, flammable and / or chemically reactive. These products may topple over and spill during an earthquake, causing a hazardous situation in the home.

The City of Morgan Hill is in direct line with the final approach pattern for San Jose Airport as well as San Francisco Airport. There have been several airline crashes to the north of Morgan Hill over the past 20 years.