Sparta, Georgia

Sparta, Georgia
City
Sparta Historic District
Location in Hancock County and the state of Georgia
Coordinates: 33°17′N82°58′W / 33.283°N 82.967°W / 33.283; -82.967
Country	United States
State	Georgia
County	Hancock
Area [1]
• Total	1.82 sq mi (4.72 km2)
• Land	1.81 sq mi (4.69 km2)
• Water	0.01 sq mi (0.03 km2)
Population  (2020)
• Total	1,357
• Density	749.31/sq mi (289.27/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	31087
Area code	706
FIPS code	13-72584 [2]
GNIS feature ID	0323330 [3]
Website	www.cityofsparta.org

Sparta is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Georgia, United States. ^[4] The city's population was 1,357 at the 2020 census.

History

Sparta was founded in 1795 in the newly formed Hancock County. It became the county seat in 1797, was incorporated as a town in 1805, and later as a city in 1893. ^[5] The community was named after Sparta, a city-state in Ancient Greece. ^[6]

In 1864, during Sherman's March to the Sea, the town remained completely unscathed, reportedly due to the efforts of Confederate Captain Henry Culver, the son-in-law of local industrialist William Fraley, who successfully diverted Union troops away from the area. ^{[7] [8]}

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.8 square miles (4.7 km²), all land.

Major highways

• State Route 15
• State Route 16
• State Route 22

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1880	848		—
1890	1,540		81.6%
1900	1,150		−25.3%
1910	1,715		49.1%
1920	1,895		10.5%
1930	1,613		−14.9%
1940	1,872		16.1%
1950	1,954		4.4%
1960	1,921		−1.7%
1970	2,172		13.1%
1980	1,754		−19.2%
1990	1,710		−2.5%
2000	1,522		−11.0%
2010	1,400		−8.0%
2020	1,357		−3.1%
U.S. Decennial Census [9] 1850-1870 [10] 1870-1880 [11] 1890-1910 [12] 1920-1930 [13] 1940 [14] 1950 [15] 1960 [16] 1970 [17] 1980 [18] 1990 [19] 2000 [20] 2010 [21]

Sparta racial composition as of 2020 ^[22]

Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	189	13.93%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	1,116	82.24%
Native American	1	0.07%
Asian	23	1.69%
Other/Mixed	17	1.25%
Hispanic or Latino	11	0.81%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,357 people, 669 households, and 419 families residing in the city.

Economy

Sparta is the site of Georgia's Hancock State Prison.

Education

Hancock County School District

The Hancock County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of one elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. ^[23] The district has 83 full-time teachers and over 670 students.

• Lewis Elementary School
• Hancock Central Middle School
• Hancock Central High School
• John Hancock Academy

Notable people

• Thomas "Pee Wee" Butts – professional baseball player ^[24]
• George Darden – United States Representative from Georgia who went to high school in Sparta
• Harvey Grant – professional basketball player
• Horace Grant – professional basketball player
• Tommy Hurricane Jackson – professional boxer
• Adella Hunt Logan – suffragist
• Jean Toomer – Harlem Renaissance writer and poet, once served as a principal in Sparta
• Angeria Paris VanMicheals – drag queen and finalist on season 14 of RuPaul's Drag Race and winner of the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

See also

• State of Georgia portal

• Central Savannah River Area
• Rossiter-Little House - Oldest house in Sparta

References

1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
2. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved January 31, 2008.
3. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
4. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
5. Hellmann, Paul T. (May 13, 2013). Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Routledge. p. 247. ISBN   978-1135948597 . Retrieved November 30, 2013.
6. Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 210. ISBN   0-915430-00-2.
7. "William Fraley". www.friendsofcems.org. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
8. "Sparta - Georgia Historical Society". www.georgiahistory.com/. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
9. "Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decade". United States Census Bureau.
10. "1870 Census of Population - Georgia - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1870.
11. "1880 Census of Population - Georgia - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1880.
12. "1910 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1910.
13. "1930 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1930. pp. 251–256.
14. "1940 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1940.
15. "1950 Census of Population - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1950.
16. "1960 Census of Population - Population of County Subdivisions - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1960.
17. "1970 Census of Population - Population of County Subdivisions - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1970.
18. "1980 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1980.
19. "1990 Census of Population - Summary Social, Economic, and Housing Characteristics - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1990.
20. "2000 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2000.
21. "2010 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Georgia" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2010.
22. "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
23. Georgia Board of Education ^{[ permanent dead link ]}, Retrieved June 11, 2010.
24. "Thomas Butts". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved May 29, 2014.

Further reading

• "History of Sparta, Georgia", Georgia Encyclopedia (John Rozier, Emory University), 12/5/2008
• Kent Anderson Leslie, Woman of Color, Daughter of Privilege: Amanda America Dickson, 1849-1893 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1995).
• John Rozier, Black Boss: Political Revolution in a Georgia County (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1982).
• John Rozier, The Houses of Hancock, 1785-1865 (Decatur, Ga.: privately printed, 1996).
• John Rozier, ed., The Granite Farm Letters: The Civil War Correspondence of Edgeworth and Sallie Bird (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1988).
• Forrest Shivers, The Land Between: A History of Hancock County, Georgia, to 1940 (Spartanburg, S.C.: Reprint Co., 1990).

External links

• Sparta historical marker
• Sparta Cemetery historical marker
• Pierce Memorial Methodist Church historical marker