Sparks, Nevada
| Sparks, Nevada | |
|---|---|
| City | |
Victorian Square in Sparks
|
|
| Nickname(s): The Rail City, City Of Promise | |
| Motto: "It's Happening Here!" | |
 Location in Washoe county |
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| Coordinates: 39°33′16″N 119°44′8″W / 39.55444°N 119.73556°WCoordinates: 39°33′16″N 119°44′8″W / 39.55444°N 119.73556°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |
 Nevada
|
| County | Washoe |
| Founded | 1904 |
| Incorporated | March 15, 1905 |
| Named for | John Sparks |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council-manager |
| • Mayor | Geno Martini (R) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 93.0 km2 (35.9 sq mi) |
| • Land | 92.6 km2 (35.8 sq mi) |
| • Water | 0.4 km2 (0.2 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,345 m (4,413 ft) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 90,264 |
| • Density | 970/km2 (2,500/sq mi) |
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) |
| ZIP codes | 89431–89436 |
| Area code(s) | 775 |
| FIPS code | 32-68400 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0856391 |
| Interstates |
  
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| Major State Routes |
  
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| Waterways | Truckee River |
| Public transit | Regional Transportation Commission |
| Website | cityofsparks |
| Reference no. | 88 |
Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. It was founded in 1904 and incorporated on March 15, 1905, and is located just east of Reno. The 2010 U.S. Census Bureau population count was 90,264. It is the fifth most populous city in Nevada.
Sparks is located within the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area.
In the early historical period, the area that is now Sparks was inhabited by the Washoe people. Euro-American settlement of the area began in the early 1850s, and the population density in the area remained very low until 1904 when the Southern Pacific Railroad built a switch yard and maintenance sheds there. The city that sprung up around them was first called Harriman after E. H. Harriman, president of the Southern Pacific. The city was quickly renamed Sparks after John Sparks, the Governor of Nevada at that time.
Sparks remained a small town until the 1950s, when economic growth in Reno triggered a housing boom north of the railroad in the area of Sparks. During the 1970s, the area south of the railroad started to fill up with warehouses and light industry. In 1984, the tower for the Nugget Casino Resort was finished, giving Sparks its first, and currently only, high-rise casino. In 1996, the redevelopment effort of the B Street business district across from the Nugget that started in the early 1980s took a step forward with the opening of a multi-screen movie complex and the construction of a plaza area. This area, now known as Victorian Square, is a pedestrian-friendly district that hosts many open-air events.
Under direction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a comprehensive dynamic water quality computer model, the DSSAM Model, was developed (Earth Metrics, 1987) to analyze impacts of a variety of land use and stormwater management decisions throughout the 3,120-square-mile (8,100 km2) Truckee River basin; this model was used to develop a set of surface runoff stormwater management measures for Sparks in the 1980s.
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