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History
in a water-logged Pecan shell
The town was originally on Cowhouse
Creek where a mill was built in the late 1860s. A post office opened in 1873 (closed
in 1920) and although the town started out small, by 1890 thirty-five Spartans
called the place home. By 1896 it was up to seventy-five people and the school
had an enrollment of fifty-two by 1903. Sparta's population probably never exceeded
100 and 1933 seemed to have been the town's zenith.
Sparta was inundated
for the creation of Lake
Belton in the 1950s by impounding the Leon River. |
Sparta
in 1907 Postal map showing Bell County
(N of Belton.
Above "EL" in "B-E-L-L")
Courtesy Texas General Land Office |
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