Sparks, Maryland
Encyclopedia
Sparks is an unincorporated
community that is located in Baltimore County, Maryland
, United States
. It is situated approximately 20 miles north of Baltimore, Maryland and is considered to be a suburb of the City of Baltimore. The Gunpowder River
runs through Sparks.
Sparks serves as the location of the world headquarters of McCormick & Company
; it is also the headquarters of sportwear manufacturer FILA USA
. The popular North Central Railroad ("NCR") Hike-Bike Trail runs through Sparks along the basin of the Gunpowder Falls (AKA the Gunpowder River
). The town's ZIP Code
is 21152 and it is frequently accessed at Exit 24, Belfast Road, along I-83, an Interstate Highway that runs from Baltimore, MD to Harrisburg, PA. Although Sparks is unincorporated and has no official town limits, the area that is usually considered to constitute Sparks runs from several miles west of I-83 to Carroll Road to the East, and from north of Hunt Valley/Cockeysville along York Road and I-83 to Hereford, Maryland. Approximately 3,000 (5,094 according to 2010 census) people self-identify as living in the Sparks area. Glencoe, MD is a smaller community that is largely surrounded by Sparks and the area is sometimes collectively known as "Sparks Glencoe, Maryland."
on its way to burial in Illinois
following his assassination in 1865.
For a number of years a creamery was operated for farmers who brought their milk in daily to be separated. (The stone structure which once housed the creamery can be seen today.) The cream was shipped to Baltimore while the skim milk was used by the farmers on their farms. With the passage of time, Sparks' Switch came to be known simply as "Sparks." In 1888, the area had grown to a point where "a substantial foot bridge 6 feet in width" had to be built across the Gunpowder River
.
Beginning in 1889, a combination passenger and freight station was operated by the Northern Central Railway
(NCR) along the right-of-way and line that had previously been known as the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad. A passenger and freight stop along the North Central Railroad was named Sparks Station. Railroad operations through Sparks ceased in 1972, as a direct result of major damage to the tracks and rail bed that occurred during flooding that followed Hurricane Agnes.
The section along York Road that is today known as Sparks was previously named Philopolis. (The name "Philopolis" is from the Greek and means "Love Town." Today, a subdivision of Sparks is named "Loveton Farms."). The original town of Sparks, as distinguished from Philopolis was merely a cluster of homes and farms one mile to the east along the NCR tracks and Sparks Road. Philopolis was the site of the Milton Academy, a well known private day and boarding school for boys. Of note is the fact that one of the school's students was John Wilkes Booth
. The Milton Academy stands today along York Road in Sparks and serves as one of the region's finest restaurants, an establishment that is known as the Milton Inn. Wallace Warfield Simpson, better known as the Duchess of Windsor, and the Princess of Jordan, graduated from the nearby Oldfields School
, a private boarding school for young women. Also located in the area that was originally known as Sparks (along Sparks Road) was a blacksmith
and a wheelwright
shop, an undertaker, a milliner, and a general store
. In time, the entire area came to be known as Sparks and the village of Philopolis disappeared from county maps.
In 1909, six small rural schools were consolidated into what is known today as the once-historic Sparks Elementary School building on Sparks Road. Sparks Elementary School was completely gutted by an electrical fire on the evening of January 8, 1995. Local television station crews (including Baltimore's WJZ-13 affiliate) were at the scene as the event unfolded. However, fire & rescue crews did not arrive until well after the electrical fire had completely destroyed the school's interior. Although remnants of the stone foundation and outer face of the building still remain, the once-historic stone building was clearly unsuitable to be used again for its original purpose. Returning students who were slated to continue classes at Sparks Elementary School from winter-spring of 1995 were instead transferred to a makeshift Elementary School wing set up within Cockeysville Middle School in Cockeysville, Maryland. Incoming students who were slated to begin kindergarten classes at Sparks Elementary School in the fall of 1995 were instead transferred to a makeshift kindergarten wing of Bosley Church in Jacksonville, Maryland. In 1998, Sparks Elementary School was rebuilt in the on Belfast Road, approximately one mile west of its original location on Sparks Road. This new incarnation of Sparks Elementary School opened on November 23, 1998. In 1913, a general store and warehouse
was built and the post office was moved from York Road to Sparks Road. Sparks State Bank was built in 1916 next to the store along the NCR tracks. Both the bank and the post office have since been moved back to York Road, which now serves as the main area of local business. The bank moved in 1954 due to a decrease in train activity as well as repeated flooding from the Gunpowder River; some of the bank's safe deposit box
es were said to have contained water from past floods. The original Sparks Bank building still stands and is now operated as a Nature Center for young children by volunteers of Gunpowder Falls State Park
in conjunction with the NCR Hike and Bike Trail
, which follows the old railroad path through northern Baltimore County.
has its U.S. headquarters in Sparks. In 1999 the American Institute of Architects honored the building for its interior design. Edward Gunts of The Baltimore Sun
said that with the exception for the "F" placed on the outside of the building, the Fila USA building "mistaken for any of the suburban office buildings constructed north of Towson
during the past 20 years."
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
community that is located in Baltimore County, Maryland
Baltimore County, Maryland
Baltimore County is a county located in the northern part of the US state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 805,029. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Towson. The name of the county was derived from the barony of the Proprietor of the Maryland...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is situated approximately 20 miles north of Baltimore, Maryland and is considered to be a suburb of the City of Baltimore. The Gunpowder River
Gunpowder River
The Gunpowder River is a tidal inlet on the western side of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, United States. It is formed by the joining of two freshwater rivers, Gunpowder Falls and Little Gunpowder Falls.-Gunpowder Falls:The Big Gunpowder, long, begins in the extreme southern part of Pennsylvania's...
runs through Sparks.
Sparks serves as the location of the world headquarters of McCormick & Company
McCormick & Company
McCormick & Company manufactures spices, herbs, and flavorings for retail, commercial, and industrial markets. The company began in 1889 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. One hundred years later, McCormick moved from downtown Baltimore to the suburb of Hunt Valley, Maryland. McCormick has...
; it is also the headquarters of sportwear manufacturer FILA USA
Fila (company)
Fila is one of the world's largest sportswear manufacturing companies. Founded in 1911 in Italy, Fila has been owned and operated from South Korea since a takeover in 2007. Headed by chairman and CEO Yoon-Soo Yoon, Fila now has offices in 11 countries worldwide....
. The popular North Central Railroad ("NCR") Hike-Bike Trail runs through Sparks along the basin of the Gunpowder Falls (AKA the Gunpowder River
Gunpowder River
The Gunpowder River is a tidal inlet on the western side of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, United States. It is formed by the joining of two freshwater rivers, Gunpowder Falls and Little Gunpowder Falls.-Gunpowder Falls:The Big Gunpowder, long, begins in the extreme southern part of Pennsylvania's...
). The town's ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
is 21152 and it is frequently accessed at Exit 24, Belfast Road, along I-83, an Interstate Highway that runs from Baltimore, MD to Harrisburg, PA. Although Sparks is unincorporated and has no official town limits, the area that is usually considered to constitute Sparks runs from several miles west of I-83 to Carroll Road to the East, and from north of Hunt Valley/Cockeysville along York Road and I-83 to Hereford, Maryland. Approximately 3,000 (5,094 according to 2010 census) people self-identify as living in the Sparks area. Glencoe, MD is a smaller community that is largely surrounded by Sparks and the area is sometimes collectively known as "Sparks Glencoe, Maryland."
History
In 1835, the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad constructed a track through Baltimore City which included a siding and switch near a large tract of land owned by the Sparks family. Railroad officials gave the name Sparks to the switch, and soon area residents began to refer to the location as "Sparks' Switch." Abraham Lincoln's body was carried through Sparks on the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad from Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on its way to burial in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
following his assassination in 1865.
For a number of years a creamery was operated for farmers who brought their milk in daily to be separated. (The stone structure which once housed the creamery can be seen today.) The cream was shipped to Baltimore while the skim milk was used by the farmers on their farms. With the passage of time, Sparks' Switch came to be known simply as "Sparks." In 1888, the area had grown to a point where "a substantial foot bridge 6 feet in width" had to be built across the Gunpowder River
Gunpowder River
The Gunpowder River is a tidal inlet on the western side of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, United States. It is formed by the joining of two freshwater rivers, Gunpowder Falls and Little Gunpowder Falls.-Gunpowder Falls:The Big Gunpowder, long, begins in the extreme southern part of Pennsylvania's...
.
Beginning in 1889, a combination passenger and freight station was operated by the Northern Central Railway
Northern Central Railway
The Northern Central Railway was a Class I Railroad connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Completed in 1858, the line came under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1861, when the PRR acquired a controlling interest in the Northern Central's stock to compete with the...
(NCR) along the right-of-way and line that had previously been known as the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad. A passenger and freight stop along the North Central Railroad was named Sparks Station. Railroad operations through Sparks ceased in 1972, as a direct result of major damage to the tracks and rail bed that occurred during flooding that followed Hurricane Agnes.
The section along York Road that is today known as Sparks was previously named Philopolis. (The name "Philopolis" is from the Greek and means "Love Town." Today, a subdivision of Sparks is named "Loveton Farms."). The original town of Sparks, as distinguished from Philopolis was merely a cluster of homes and farms one mile to the east along the NCR tracks and Sparks Road. Philopolis was the site of the Milton Academy, a well known private day and boarding school for boys. Of note is the fact that one of the school's students was John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was an American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor...
. The Milton Academy stands today along York Road in Sparks and serves as one of the region's finest restaurants, an establishment that is known as the Milton Inn. Wallace Warfield Simpson, better known as the Duchess of Windsor, and the Princess of Jordan, graduated from the nearby Oldfields School
Oldfields School
Oldfields School, founded in Baltimore County, Maryland in 1867 by Anna Austen McCulloch, is the oldest girls' boarding school in Maryland.A college preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 6 through 12 located in Glencoe, near Sparks, Maryland, Oldfield's School has approximately...
, a private boarding school for young women. Also located in the area that was originally known as Sparks (along Sparks Road) was a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
and a wheelwright
Wheelwright
A wheelwright is a person who builds or repairs wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the archaic word "wright", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a worker or maker...
shop, an undertaker, a milliner, and a general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
. In time, the entire area came to be known as Sparks and the village of Philopolis disappeared from county maps.
In 1909, six small rural schools were consolidated into what is known today as the once-historic Sparks Elementary School building on Sparks Road. Sparks Elementary School was completely gutted by an electrical fire on the evening of January 8, 1995. Local television station crews (including Baltimore's WJZ-13 affiliate) were at the scene as the event unfolded. However, fire & rescue crews did not arrive until well after the electrical fire had completely destroyed the school's interior. Although remnants of the stone foundation and outer face of the building still remain, the once-historic stone building was clearly unsuitable to be used again for its original purpose. Returning students who were slated to continue classes at Sparks Elementary School from winter-spring of 1995 were instead transferred to a makeshift Elementary School wing set up within Cockeysville Middle School in Cockeysville, Maryland. Incoming students who were slated to begin kindergarten classes at Sparks Elementary School in the fall of 1995 were instead transferred to a makeshift kindergarten wing of Bosley Church in Jacksonville, Maryland. In 1998, Sparks Elementary School was rebuilt in the on Belfast Road, approximately one mile west of its original location on Sparks Road. This new incarnation of Sparks Elementary School opened on November 23, 1998. In 1913, a general store and warehouse
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
was built and the post office was moved from York Road to Sparks Road. Sparks State Bank was built in 1916 next to the store along the NCR tracks. Both the bank and the post office have since been moved back to York Road, which now serves as the main area of local business. The bank moved in 1954 due to a decrease in train activity as well as repeated flooding from the Gunpowder River; some of the bank's safe deposit box
Safe deposit box
A safe deposit box or wrongly referred to as a safety deposit box is an individually-secured container, usually held within a larger safe or bank vault. Safe deposit boxes are generally located in banks, post offices or other institutions...
es were said to have contained water from past floods. The original Sparks Bank building still stands and is now operated as a Nature Center for young children by volunteers of Gunpowder Falls State Park
Gunpowder Falls State Park
Gunpowder Falls State Park is an park in northwestern Baltimore County and eastern Harford County, Maryland. It is primarily made up of the stream valleys of the Big and Little Gunpowder Falls and the Gunpowder River, and boasts over 100 miles of trails. All areas of the park are convenient to the...
in conjunction with the NCR Hike and Bike Trail
Northern Central Railroad Trail
The Torrey C. Brown Trail, formerly known as the Northern Central Railroad Trail is a rail trail that runs along an abandoned railroad corridor where the Northern Central Railway used to run. The trails extends from Cockeysville, Maryland to the boundary with Pennsylvania. At the Pennsylvania...
, which follows the old railroad path through northern Baltimore County.
Economy
FILAFila (company)
Fila is one of the world's largest sportswear manufacturing companies. Founded in 1911 in Italy, Fila has been owned and operated from South Korea since a takeover in 2007. Headed by chairman and CEO Yoon-Soo Yoon, Fila now has offices in 11 countries worldwide....
has its U.S. headquarters in Sparks. In 1999 the American Institute of Architects honored the building for its interior design. Edward Gunts of The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
said that with the exception for the "F" placed on the outside of the building, the Fila USA building "mistaken for any of the suburban office buildings constructed north of Towson
Towson
-Places:In the United States:*Towson, Maryland, an unincorporated community in Maryland**Towson Center, an arena in Towson, Maryland**Towson Town Center, a shopping mall in Towson, Maryland*Fort Towson, Oklahoma, a community in Oklahoma...
during the past 20 years."