| Sparks,
Baltimore
County Zip Code(s): 21152
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Description
Sparks is an unincorporated
community that is located in northern 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 and, accordingly, there are
sometimes wry references to "Sparks on the Gunpowder."
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 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. 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 know 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. this big house once housed the
Milton Academy, (now the Milton Inn), 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 boxes
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.
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