Sparta, Tennessee

Sparta is a city in and the county seat of White County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 5,001 in 2020.

The Calfkiller River flows through the city. Seven sites in Sparta are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History of Sparta

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-state Sparta.

Sparta nearly became the capital of the state of Tennessee, as, early in the history of Tennessee, the state legislature voted to choose a location for the permanent state capital. The final vote resulted in a near tie between Sparta and Nashville. Sparta lost to Nashville by one vote.

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 House, 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 Jackson and Sam Houston. The building is now a state historic site and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sparta is notable as a place where two renowned airmen lost their lives. Hawthorne C. Gray, an aviation record holder, died in a balloon-basket mishap over Sparta in 1927, and Lansing Colton Holden Jr., a World War I flying ace, crashed his plane near Sparta in 1938.

Teenagers Erin Foster and Jeremy Bechtel went missing in Sparta in 2000, and were not discovered until February 2022 when scuba diver Jeremy Sides found Foster's vehicle in the Calfkiller River.

Geography

Sparta is located at 35°55′56″N 85°28′11″W (35.932335, -85.469837), approximately fifteen miles south of Cookeville. The city is situated on the Highland Rim, near the western base of the Cumberland Plateau. The Calfkiller River traverses Sparta north-to-south en route to its confluence with the Caney Fork several miles to the south.

Sparta is traditionally concentrated around its courthouse square along U.S. Route 70 (signed locally as Bockman Way), which connects Sparta with Crossville to the east and Smithville to the west. State Route 111, which traverses the western part of Sparta, connects the city with Cookeville to the north and Spencer to the south. A modern commercial area has developed around the intersection of US 70 and SR 111. State Route 84 winds its away up the Calfkiller Valley, connecting Sparta with Monterey atop the Plateau to the northeast. U.S. Route 70S connects Sparta with McMinnville to the southwest.

The Upper Cumberland Regional Airport is 11 mi (18 km) north of Sparta.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.3 square miles (16 km2), all land.

Education

The White County Schools includes White County High School.

Notable people

Foster V. Brown, U.S. Congressman

David Culley, NFL coach

John D. Defrees, newspaperman and politician

George Gibbs Dibrell, Civil War general (Confederate) and U.S. Congressman

Lester Flatt, bluegrass musician in the Foggy Mountain Boys

John C. Floyd, U.S. Congressman

Erin Foster and Jeremy Bechtel, Missing teenagers

Erasmus Lee Gardenhire, politician and judge who served in the Confederate States Congress and Tennessee House of Representatives; lived his adult life in Sparta

Kellie Harper, Head coach of University of Missouri women's basketball; former player and head coach of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball; grew up in Sparta

Benny Martin, bluegrass musician who invented the eight string fiddle

Ethan Roberts, Major League Baseball pitcher

Tom Rogers, Major League Baseball pitcher

Charles Edward Snodgrass, U.S. Congressman; uncle of Henry C. Snodgrass

Henry C. Snodgrass, U.S. Congressman

Lefty Stewart, Major League Baseball pitcher

James W. Throckmorton, 12th Governor of Texas and U.S. Congressman

Earl Webb, Major League Baseball outfielder