Sparta, Texas ghost town under Lake Belton. (original) (raw)

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.

See
Drowned Towns of Bell County by Mike Cox

Bell County 1907 Postal map showing Sparta
(N of Belton. Above "EL" in "B-E-L-L")
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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