Sparta: a Frontier Town in Texas
In the 1800’s Americans caught "gold fever." Some of these men lost everything; others gathered significant wealth that enabled them to do seemingly anything. George Wash Walton was one of these men. Prospering in San Francisco, the young Tennesseean made his way to Bell County, Texas. In a valley known as "Cowhouse," he became a co-founder and community leader of a small yet vibrant frontier town called Sparta. The town thrived and then faced setbacks when it burned. While most people would admit defeat, Spartans, historically, were determined fighters. Like the ancient Spartans, the community of Sparta, Texas, would eventually be subdued by a formidable foe.
The community, known as Sparta was located in a valley that was populated with a large number of wild longhorn cattle. Because of the erratic Texas weather, cattle sought refuge in the numerous caves and high bluffs. The first settlers dubbed this area "Cowhouse Valley." Subsequently, settlers, named the creek "Cowhouse Creek" and the surrounding hills as "Cowhouse." The fertile soil in the area was ideal for a variety of crops and was served by the Leon River that met Cowhouse Creek, five or six mile down steam.[1] The settlement of the area began when two brothers from the prominent Walton family staked a claim in Bell County after finding financial success in the California Gold Rush. They acquired land in Cowhouse Valley and spent the remainder of their lives there.[2]
G.W. Walton was the first person to suggest the name of Sparta before becoming its most prominent citizen. A religious man who belonged to the Church of Christ, Walton arranged to have a traveling preacher come to the Cowhouse Valley and hold sporadic revivals. One one occasion, a preacher pitched a tent and preached for ten days. Walton then extended an invitation to the whole valley for a barbeque the following Sunday. He supplied two cooked cows along with bread and pickles, and he funded the entire feast. Many people traveled a long distance to participate in the revival and then stayed to be baptized in Cowhouse Creek. Although the evidence remains unclear, the Church of Christ revival may have sparked the unusually high Church of Christ population still found in Bell County.[3]
The transition of the area from Cowhouse Valley to Sparta took place in the 1880’s although the exact date remains unknown. [4] J.J. Bishop a former resident, teacher, and author of The Rise of Fall of Sparta: a History of its Beginning and End recalls the story of how Sparta acquired its name. After Walton built a two-story building near his home, local residents used it for school, church services and all other “legitimate” public meetings. After a deal was struck with nearby Ceder Grove Grange, the lower floor of the building became a cooperative store. Walton then named the store Sparta. Similar to the other cooperatives of the Patrons of Husbandry in the 1870’s, the store elected a Board of Directors headed by A. J. McDaniel. Members of the Grange served as stockholders after its charter in 1879. A year later A.J. McDaniel’s term expired and Mr. T.E. Tomlinson became the director. A self-educated native of Sparta, Tomlinson was a hard- working and honest man who purchased the entire inventory of the store and the building from the Grange. This act of buying the entire inventory earned Tomlinson many accolades. Although the Grange operated a total of eleven stores in Bell County, only the Sparta store survived. A second store came to Sparta in 1890 when the Morgan brothers, Frank and Joe, opened their doors. They were very successful until 1904.[5]
While Walton offered educational opportunities in his building, the first school in Sparta was called Brookhaven. Built in 1866, the school educated the children of Sparta for the next three years. [6]
Before the Civil War Sparta was primarily an agricultural community. That changed shortly after the war with the arrival of Major Rose to Sparta. Major Rose previously lived in Salado, Texas. He had a vision of Sparta and industry. In 1866 he found the perfect spot for a flour mill and gristmill on Cowhouse Creek about two miles west of Sparta. He acquired a boiler from a ship sunk in Galveston and after repair was able to use the power generated to grind wheat and corn. It ginned cotton, and could pull a sawmill. Major Rose sold them to Bell County Judge O’Hair then added a store to the site and changed the name of the complex to O’Hair’s Mill. At the same time O’Hair acquired his mill, Bill Wolf established his blacksmith shop on the O’Hair’s property. [7] The O’Hair mill was very successful and brought in many settlers to the area looking for work. This influx of workers and their families caused the need for a second school to be built at O’Hair’s in 1869. The class terms were much shorter than today's standard so that children could help in the fields with farming chores. This school was called the Cedar Grover School. [8]
Walton had similar industrial ideas for Sparta. In 1873 Sparta got its first post office. The same year the Grange Store opened, Walton built a cotton gin and a gristmill. Walton sold his mill to his G.W. Cole who then sold them to Dock Walton in 1900. A fire eventually destroyed the cotton gin and gristmill. They were a total loss.[9]
Soon after the fire Bob Denman, a son of an early settler of Sparta, built a new cotton gin and gristmill on the same site. Dock Walton was the manager of the new plant and managed his father's store in Sparta as well. He managed both with success until 1921 when once again an all-enveloping fire left the structure uninhabitable and a total loss. Sparta never fully recovered from these fires. With the final fire in 1921, no other businesses were built. This led to a decline in population and by 1947 Sparta had a population of 50 people.[10]
While there was a decline in farming in Bell County, Texas, from the onset of the depression through the 1940s, the farmers of Sparta persevered. Some people decided that frontier life was not for them and moved to the city. Dock Walton was so devastated by the fires that he left the area and lived the remainder of his life in Dallas. The fires did not force everyone out. The people who remained continued to live in the communal style to which they had become accustomed. They were tied to the land and to each other. However, circumstances changed when plans were revealed concerning the damming of the Leon River to create Belton Reservoir. Not long after, the waters were released and Cowhouse Creek began to fill in March 1954. It was time to leave Sparta behind. [11]
[1] (Bishop J.J., The Rise and Fall of Sparta: a History of its Beginning and its End, [Belton: Univercity of Mary Hardin Baylor Special Collections, 1952] 4
[2](Bishop, The Rise and Fall of Sparta, 3)
[3] (Bishop,The Rise and Fall of Sparta, 4)
[4] (Temple Daily Herald, Sparta Finds it Beginning in the 50’s but the is Date Vague, [Temple Daily Herald.], n.a
[5] (Bishop, The Rise and Fall of Sparta, 36)
[6] (Bishop, The Rise and Fall of Sparta, 24)
[7] (Lister-Atmar, Robert N. The Creation of Belton Reservoir: a Political and Social Perspective. [Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms International, 1997], 133
[8] Macaulay, Carol. “Sparta, Texas: Traditions of Self-Sufficiency and Community Solidarity.” [College Station, Tex.: Texas A&M University, 1998], 175
[9]Lister-Atmar, The Creation of Belton Reservoir, 178
[10] Bishop, The Rise and Fall of Sparta, 35
[11] Macaulay, Sparta, Texas, 201