Sparta is a city in
White CountyWhite County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 23,102. Its county seat is Sparta.-History:...
,
TennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 4,599 at the 2000 census. It is the
county seatA county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of
White CountyWhite County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 23,102. Its county seat is Sparta.-History:...
. It was the hometown of
Lester FlattLester Raymond Flatt was a bluegrass musician and guitarist and mandolinist, best known for his membership in the Bluegrass duo The Foggy Mountain Boys, also known as "Flatt and Scruggs," with banjo picker Earl Scruggs. Flatt's career spanned multiple decades; besides his work with Scruggs, he...
of the
bluegrass musicBluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
legends Flatt and Scruggs.
Geography
Sparta is located at 35°55′56"N 85°28′11"W (35.932335, -85.469837), approximately fifteen miles south of
CookevilleCookeville is a city in Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 23,923 at the 2000 census. of Cookeville's population was 30,435, and the combined total of those living in Cookeville's in 2010 was 65,014. It is the county seat of Putnam County and home to Tennessee...
. The city is situated on the
Highland RimThe Highland Rim is a geographic term for the area in Tennessee surrounding the Central Basin. Nashville is largely surrounded by higher terrain in all directions....
, near the base of the western escarpment of the
Cumberland PlateauThe Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia, part of Tennessee, and a small portion of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia . The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the...
. The
Calfkiller RiverThe Calfkiller River is a tributary of the Caney Fork of the Cumberland River in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Via the Caney Fork and the Cumberland and Ohio rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed....
traverses Sparta north-to-south en route to its
confluenceConfluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
with the Caney Fork several miles to the south.
Sparta is centered just east of the junction of
U.S. Route 70U.S. Route 70 is an east–west United States highway that runs for 2,385 miles from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. As can be derived from its number, it is a major east–west highway of the Southern and Southwestern United States...
, which connects Sparta with
KnoxvilleFounded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
to the east and
NashvilleNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
to the west, and State Route 111, which connects Sparta with
KentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
to the north and
ChattanoogaChattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
to the south.
According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 6.3 square miles (16.3 km²), all land.
Demographics
As of the
censusA census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 4,599 people, 1,952 households, and 1,270 families residing in the city. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 725.2 people per square mile (280.1/km²). There were 2,192 housing units at an average density of 345.7 per square mile (133.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 91.82% White, 5.28% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.65% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 0.67% from
other racesRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.24% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.15% of the population.
There were 1,952 households out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.7% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 17.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.9% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.81.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.8% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 22.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 85.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $23,775, and the median income for a family was $33,060. Males had a median income of $26,970 versus $20,295 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $15,340. About 16.2% of families and 21.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.3% of those under age 18 and 14.3% of those age 65 or over.
History
Sparta was established in 1809 as a county seat for White County, which had been created in 1806. The city was named after the
ancient Greek city-stateSparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
.
Sparta grew quickly due to its location along the stage road between Knoxville and Nashville. In the 1830s, brothers Barlow and Madison Fisk built the
Sparta Rock HouseThe Sparta Rock House is a stone building near Sparta, Tennessee that once served as a rest stop and tollhouse. Built in the late 1830s, the Rock House catered to traffic along an important wagon road between Knoxville and Nashville, offering badly needed lodging and supplies to travellers who had...
, which served as an inn along the stage road. The Rock House, strategically situated in an area where the Cumberland Plateau gives way to the Calfkiller valley, was a common stopover for figures important to the early history of the state, including
Andrew JacksonAndrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
and
Sam HoustonSamuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
. The building is now a state historic site and is listed on the
National Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Local government
Governing Body:
- Mayor — Jeff Young
- Vice Mayor — Hoyt Jones
- Aldermen — Jeff Young, Bobby Officer, Debbie Sopha, Judy Payne, Robert Verble
Staff:
- City Administrator — Marty Carmichael;
- City Court Clerk — Lorie Spivey;
- City Judge — William D. Mitchell;
- City Recorder — Tonya R. Tindle;
- Code Enforcement Officer — Dennis Clark;
- Fire Chief — Ed Kay;
- Police Chief — Jeff Guth,
- Accounts Payable — Angie Wilhite;
- Street/Sanitation Superintendent —
- Utility Manager —
- Water/Sewer Superintendent —
- Electric Superintendent —
- City Attorney — Lynn Omohundro
External links