SPARTA, TEXAS

A Submerged Ghost Town

Texas Ghost Town
Bell County, Central Texas North

Under Lake Belton
9 Miles N of Belton

Sparta, Texas Area Hotels › Belton Hotels

View of Lake Belton from Belton Dam
Photo courtesy Chandra Moira Beal

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

Cover cancelled with Sparta TX 1898 Postmark
Courtesy The John J. Germann Collection

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

NOT Sparta

Take a road trip

Central Texas North

Sparta, Texas Nearby Towns:
Belton the county seat
Temple
See Bell County

Book Hotel Here:
Belton Hotels | Temple Hotels | More Hotels

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