Sparta is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Hancock County,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, United States. The city's population was 1,357 at the 2020

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

History

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. The community was named after

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

, a city-state in

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

. In 1864, during Sherman's March to the Sea, the town remained completely unscathed, reportedly due to the efforts of

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

Captain Henry Culver, the son-in-law of local industrialist William Fraley, who successfully diverted Union troops away from the area.

Geography

Sparta is located at (33.2773, -82.9715). According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , all land.

Major highways

State Route 15 * Georgia 16

State Route 16 * Georgia 22

State Route 22

Demographics

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 The Hancock County School District is a public school district based in the community of Kiln, Mississippi, United States. In addition to Kiln, the district also serves the communities of Diamondhead, Pearlington, sections of Waveland and B ...

holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of one elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. The district has 103 full-time teachers and over 1,659 students. *Lewis Elementary School *Hancock Central Middle School * Hancock Central High School * John Hancock Academy

Notable people

* Thomas "Pee Wee" Butts – professional baseball player * George Darden – United States Representative from Georgia who went to high school in Sparta *

Harvey Grant Harvey Grant (born July 4, 1965) is an American former professional National Basketball Association (NBA) basketball player. He is the identical twin brother of Horace Grant, also a former NBA player. College career Grant transferred to Oklaho ...

– professional basketball player *

Horace Grant Horace Junior Grant Sr. (born July 4, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player who is a special advisor for Michael Reinsdorf, the president and chief operating officer of the Chicago Bulls. He played college basketball for th ...

– professional basketball player *

Tommy Hurricane Jackson Thomas "Tommy" Jackson (August 9, 1931 – February 14, 1982), often known as "Hurricane" Jackson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1951 to 1961. In July 1957, he fought Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight championship. Jackso ...

– professional boxer * Adella Hunt Logan – suffragist *

Jean Toomer Jean Toomer (born Nathan Pinchback Toomer; December 26, 1894 – March 30, 1967) was an American poet and novelist commonly associated with modernism and the Harlem Renaissance, though he actively resisted the latter association. His reputati ...

–

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the ti ...

writer and poet, once served as a principal in Sparta *

Angeria Paris VanMicheals Tommie Laron Holsey (born July 25, 1993), better known by the stage name Angeria Paris VanMicheals, is an American drag performer who competed on the fourteenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and won the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All ...

–

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

and finalist on season 14 of

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race (franchise), ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder (company), World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, ...

and winner of the ninth season of

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars ''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'' is an American reality competition spin off edition of the original ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', which is produced by World of Wonder, for Logo TV and later VH1. The show premiered on October 22, 2012, on Logo TV, ...

References

External links

Sparta
historical marker
Sparta Cemetery
historical marker
Pierce Memorial Methodist Church
historical marker {{authority control Cities in Georgia (U.S. state) Cities in Hancock County, Georgia County seats in Georgia (U.S. state) Milledgeville micropolitan area, Georgia