Sparks, Nebraska

Sparks, Nebraska
Unincorporated community
Post office and general store in Sparks
Sparks Location within the state of Nebraska
Coordinates: 42°56′28″N 100°15′21″W
Country	United States
State	Nebraska
County	Cherry
Elevation	2,602 ft (793 m)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central (CST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP codes	69220
GNIS feature ID	833641

Sparks is an unincorporated community in Cherry County, Nebraska, United States. Its elevation is 2,602 feet (793 m). Sparks has a post office with the ZIP code 69220.

Businesses in the village include an outfitting company that caters to visitors to the nearby Niobrara River, a convenience store that houses the post office, a restaurant, and the Sparks Museum of History. Smith Falls is south west of Sparks.

History

Sparks was named for Eldon and Joseph A. Sparks who purchased the land from the original pioneer James Hudson who arrived in March 1884 and filed a Homestead Entry. He commuted this to a preemption (paid $200) and sold it to the Sparks brothers on 5 Oct 1887 for $1000. The Sparks brothers, Valentine bankers, were speculating in land believing a rail line would eventually run NE from Valentine, which never occurred.

Prior to their purchase, the area was known as the Hudson corner for the extended family of James Hudson who had homesteads nearby. From the Democratic Blade 8 Dec 1887: "John Hudson, G.H. Sawyer and Mr.Brewer were in town to-day as a committee to make arrangements about having a new town platted on the table near James Hudson. The new town is to be called Sparks and Harry Holsclaw will survey and plat it Monday."

The Sparks brothers sold a 10 acre tract on March 12, 1889 to the Sparks Improvement Company and lots were then offered for sale.

The land north of the river was settled in 1883. It was called Seven Creeks and consisted of the area between the military reservation on the west and the Keya Paha County line to the east. In June 1890 on a motion by Jake Grooms the area was divided into Sparks and Kewanee precincts, which are the modern names for the two areas.

A post office/store was established at Sparks in 1888 and has operated there continuously since.

In 1888 a church committee was formed and the foundation laid. In 1889 the church was completed by the pioneers in the area. Logs were harvested from the Niobrara canyons and milled locally. To celebrate, a gathering was held called the Harvest Home Celebration. This would later be changed to Old Settlers and continues to this day, making it one of the longest continuous gatherings to honor the pioneer settlers of Nebraska.

The Sparks Church served as not only a church but community hall. As an early pioneer structure, that remains true to its original construction, it is an important historical landmark.

The Sparks Cemetery is located one-half mile east. Predating the town and church, the cemetery was begun in 1885 when Stella Grooms died. She was a daughter of pioneers John S. and Annie Grooms. The land for the cemetery was donated by the Henry Chaufty family, another Sparks pioneer. The cemetery contains many Sparks area pioneers.

Numerous schools were established in the area as soon as pioneers settled the area in 1883. The first school in the town was begun in December 1892 (Valentine Dem.).

References

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