Sparta, Georgia

Sparta was founded in 1795 in the newly formed Hancock County. The town was designated county seat in 1797. It was incorporated as a town in 1805 and as a city in 1893.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REtEXQNWq6MC&pg=PA247 | title=Historical Gazetteer of the United States | publisher=Routledge | date=May 13, 2013 | access-date=30 November 2013 | author=Hellmann, Paul T. | pages=247| isbn=978-1135948597 }} The community was named after Sparta, a city-state in Ancient Greece.{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/s.pdf| title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=210 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}

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.{{Cite web |title=William Fraley |url=http://www.friendsofcems.org/hancock/SpartaCemetery/MoreInfo.php?050A097002&PersName=William%20%20%20Fraley |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=www.friendsofcems.org}}{{Cite web |title=Sparta - Georgia Historical Society |url=https://www.georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/sparta/ |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=www.georgiahistory.com/ |language=en-US}}

Sparta is located at {{Coord|33|17|N|82|58|W|type:city}} (33.2773, -82.9715).{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=2011-04-23|date=2011-02-12|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}} According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of {{convert|1.8|sqmi|km2}}, all land.

• 20px State Route 15
• 20px State Route 16
• 20px State Route 22

{{US Census population

|1880= 848

|1890= 1540

|1900= 1150

|1910= 1715

|1920= 1895

|1930= 1613

|1940= 1872

|1950= 1954

|1960= 1921

|1970= 2172

|1980= 1754

|1990= 1710

|2000= 1522

|2010= 1400

|2020= 1357

|estyear=

|estimate=

|estref=

|align-fn=center

|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/decade.html|title=Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decade|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=}}
1850-1870{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 1870 Census of Population - Georgia - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1870|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1870/population/1870a-13.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|page=}} 1870-1880{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 1880 Census of Population - Georgia - Population of Civil Divisions less than Counties |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1880|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1880/vol-01-population/1880_v1-09.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|page=}}
1890-1910{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 1910 Census of Population - Georgia |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1910|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1910/abstract/supplement-ga.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|page=}} 1920-1930{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 1930 Census of Population - Georgia |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1930|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/03815512v1ch04.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|pages=251–256}}
1940{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 1940 Census of Population - Georgia |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1940|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1940/population-volume-1/33973538v1ch04.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}} 1950{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 1950 Census of Population - Georgia |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1950|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1950/population-volume-2/37779083v2p11ch2.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}} 1960{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 1960 Census of Population - Population of County Subdivisions - Georgia |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1960|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1960/population-volume-1/vol-01-12-c.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}
1970{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 1970 Census of Population - Population of County Subdivisions - Georgia |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1970|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1970a_ga-01.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}} 1980{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 1980 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - Georgia |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1980|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1980a_gaABC-01.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}} 1990{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 1990 Census of Population - Summary Social, Economic, and Housing Characteristics - Georgia |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1990|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990/cph-5/cph-5-12.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}
2000{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 2000 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Georgia |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 2000|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2003/dec/phc-3-12.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}} 2010{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink= |title= 2010 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Georgia |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 2010|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2010/cph-2/cph-2-12.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}

}}

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

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

The Hancock County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of one elementary school, a middle school, and a high school.[http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ReportingFW.aspx?PageReq=111&PID=62&PTID=69&CountyId=670&T=0&FY=2009 Georgia Board of Education]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Retrieved June 11, 2010. The district has 103 full-time teachers and over 1,659 students.[http://www.school-stats.com/GA/HANCOCK/HANCOCK_COUNTY.html School Stats], Retrieved June 11, 2010.

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

• Thomas "Pee Wee" Butts – professional baseball player{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/nlb/player.cgi?id=butts-001tho |title=Thomas Butts |publisher=baseball-reference.com |access-date=2014-05-29}}
• 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.

{{Portal|State of Georgia}}

• Central Savannah River Area
• Rossiter-Little House - Oldest house in Sparta
• DREAM Streets Sparta Facebook page

• [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2238 "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).

• [http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/hancock/sparta Sparta] historical marker
• [http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/hancock/sparta-cemetery Sparta Cemetery] historical marker
• [http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/hancock/pierce-memorial-methodist-church Pierce Memorial Methodist Church] historical marker

{{Hancock County, Georgia}}

{{Central Savannah River Area}}

{{Georgia county seats}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Cities in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Cities in Hancock County, Georgia

Category:County seats in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Milledgeville micropolitan area, Georgia