Sparta, Georgia

Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox settlement Sparta is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Georgia, United States.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The community was named after Sparta, a city-state in Ancient Greece.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of Template:Convert, all land.

Major highways

• File:Georgia 15.svg State Route 15
• File:Georgia 16.svg State Route 16
• File:Georgia 22.svg State Route 22

Demographics

Sparta racial composition as of 2020<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Georgia Board of EducationTemplate:Dead link, Retrieved June 11, 2010.</ref> 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<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 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

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

References

<references />

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