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Sparks, Nevada real estate is adjacent to Reno’s east and north sides and the two communities have become sister cities, separated by little else but politics. A constant flow of new residents continues to move into Sparks, Nevada existing homes or resale homes. Searching Sparks, Nevada MLS resale listings is almost effortless on NewHomesRealEstate.net because we have volumes of comprehensive listings of Sparks, Nevada existing homes for sale, from mansions to investment properties to condominiums to townhouses.
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Sparks, Nevada Area DemographicsSparks, Nevada real estate lies near the southern end of Washoe County in a high desert valley at an elevation of about 4,400 feet above sea level. Like most of Nevada’s urban areas, the southern part of Washoe County is growing at a rapid rate, adding more than 50,000 residents between 2000 and 2005. Sparks itself had an estimated 2006 population of 90,000, a 37 percent increase since the 2000 U.S. census put Sparks’ number of residents at 66,346. Sparks is one of two incorporated cities in Washoe County, along with its sister city of Reno. About half of Washoe County’s 389,872 residents live in Reno (2005 population estimate: 207,000), which is the third-largest city in the state, after Las Vegas (population: 545, 147) and the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson (population: 249,800), which are about 450 miles southeast of Reno and Sparks. Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, which covers 6,651 square miles, smaller in area than New Jersey, but larger than Connecticut.
After Sparks and Reno, the next-largest place in Washoe County is the unincorporated community of Sun Valley, north of Reno and Sparks, which had a 2000 population of 19,461 and an estimated 2006 population of 25,000. No other community in Washoe County had a population of more than 10,000 at the 2000 census, although the unincorporated community of Incline Village-Crystal Bay on the north shore of Lake Tahoe had a 2000 population of 9,952. There are about a dozen other smaller communities in Washoe County, almost all of them concentrated in the southern portion of the county near Reno, Sparks and Lake Tahoe, which lies about 35 miles southwest of Sparks. The state capital, Carson City (2005 population: 57,104), is an independent city, not part of any county, and lies about 30 miles south of Reno, just across the Washoe County line and just east of Lake Tahoe. The population figures do not include visitors to Reno, about 5.5 million in both 2003 and 2004.
Temperatures range from an average high in summer of 66 degrees to an average low in winter of 34 degrees. The all-time high was 105 degrees in 1940 and the all-time low was 16 degrees below zero in 1940. Average highs and lows are 92 and 51 in July and 45 and 22 in January. Average annual precipitation is about 7.5 inches, with occasional light snowfall.
Sparks, Nevada History and CultureThe history of Sparks, Nevada real estate is inextricably intertwined with the history of the railroad to the present day. Reno was a declining mining town and Sparks was undeveloped at the dawn of the 20th century, but the Southern Pacific Railway Co. had succeeded the Central Pacific Railroad as owner of the main rail line across northern Nevada in 1895 and in 1902, railroad leaders decided to straighten the line, diverting it from Wadsworth, home to a large, existing rail switching yard about 30 miles to the east. The new town was named “Harriman,” after Southern Pacific president Edward Harriman. To entice its employees to go along with the move, the company offered 7,000-square-foot lots in Harriman for $1 — and moved each employee’s house to Harriman for free in 1903. In an (unsuccessful) effort to delay the imposition of safety and tariff regulations by the state against the railroad, the city’s name was changed from Harriman to “Sparks” in 1904, named after then-Gov. John Sparks.
The Sparks-Reno area was originally the home of the Washoe, a Native American tribe for whom Washoe County is named and who lived around Lake Tahoe and adjacent areas of the Great Basin, a large, mostly desert area that covers almost all of Nevada and southeastern California. The name Washoe (also “Washo”) means “people from here” in the Washo language. Prior to outside contact, the territory of the Washoe people was roughly bounded by the southern shore of Honey Lake to the north, the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west, the fork of the Walker River to the south and the first range east of the Sierra Nevada to the east. Immediately prior to contact by Westerners, the Paiute tribe obtained and learned to ride horses, which allowed them to decisively defeat the Washoe.
Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Indian colonies in the Carson Valley area of Nevada and California gained federal recognition as the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California. The Washoe colony at Reno, Nevada, which also had a substantial Paiute and Shoshoni population, gained separate recognition as the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and is located in central Reno, with a small reservation at Hungry Valley, about 15 miles north of Reno. Today’s total Washoe tribe membership is about 2,000.
Washoe County was one of Nevada’s original nine counties created in 1861 and consolidated with Roop County (now a part of California) in 1883. Washoe City, 16 miles south of present-day Reno on the way to Carson City, was named the first county seat in 1861, but Reno became the county seat 10 years later.
Before the railroad came to Sparks, Mormon settlers arrived in the area in the 1840s. Gold had been discovered at Virginia City, about 10 miles south of present-day Sparks, and a handful of sawmills began operation when silver was discovered at Virginia City in 1859. The Ophir Silver Mining Co. opened in 1861 at Virginia City, employing hundreds of men who brought $400 million in silver and gold out of the Comstock Lode while the town of Ophir sprang up. Unlike many lawless mining towns, Ophir was known for its exceptional lack of crime and corruption. Washoe City prospered and was home to 2,500 people in 1864; Ophir had 1,200 inhabitants, and the towns of Franktown and Mill Station about 800 more combined.
In 1859, Charles Fuller built a log bridge across the Truckee River and charged a fee to those who passed over it on their way to Virginia City. Myron Lake bought Fuller’s bridge in 1861 and when the Central Pacific Railroad reached Nevada from Sacramento in 1868, Lake made sure that his crossing was included in its path by deeding a portion of his land to Charles Crocker (an organizer of the Central Pacific Railroad Company), who promised to build a depot at Lake’s Crossing, the present-day site of Reno. Also in 1868, the town of Reno was established. It was named after Gen. Jesse Reno, who died during a Civil War battle in Maryland in 1862. The Lake Mansion is one of Reno’s oldest surviving homes, built in 1877 by William Marsh and purchased by Myron Lake in 1879. The Lake Mansion was moved in 1971 and today it serves as a small museum in Reno.
At the turn of the century, Nevada Sen. Francis Newlands played a prominent role in the passage of the Reclamation Act of 1902, which diverted Truckee River water to farmland east of Reno and Sparks, prompting the growth of the town of Fallon, about 60 miles east of Sparks. Built in 1889, the Queen Anne-style Reno residence of Francis Newlands, is one five National Historic Landmarks in Nevada.
Because Nevada’s economy was tied to the mining industry and its inevitable ups and downs, the state had to find other means of economic support during the down times. Reno earned the title “Sin City” because it hosted several legal brothels, was the scene of illegal underground gambling and offered quick and easy divorces, a similar formula employed by another Nevada town about 450 miles to the south — Las Vegas.
Nystrom House, built in 1875 for Washoe County Clerk John Shoemaker, is also significant for its role as a boardinghouse during Reno’s divorce trade in the 1920s. The Riverside Hotel, designed by Frederic DeLongchamps, was built in 1927 specifically for divorce-seekers, acquiring an international reputation.
After World War II, Reno continued to grow and expand. The Mapes Hotel opened in 1947, the first hotel-casino operation in the Reno area. It was demolished in 2000, but not before dozens of others were built to establish Reno as a major gambling destination and earn it the nickname of “The Biggest Little City in the World.”
Nevada’s legalization of casino gambling in 1931 and the passage of liberal divorce laws created another boom for Reno. The divorce business eventually died as the other states fell in line by passing their own laws easing the requirements for divorce, but gambling continued as a major Reno industry.
Unlike Reno, Sparks had a more wholesome reputation — its motto is “City of Promise” — and remained a sleepy town until the 1950s, when Reno’s growth triggered a housing boom around Sparks just north of the railroad line. By the 1970s, the area south of the railroad tracks started to fill up with warehouses and light industry. In 1984 the 29-story tower for John Ascuaga’s Nugget was finished, giving Sparks its first — and so far, only — high-rise casino. A second tower of the same height was added in 1996.
A redevelopment effort along the unsightly B Street — renamed Victorian Avenue — business district across from the Nugget began in the early 1980s and finally, in 1996, it took a step forward with the opening of a multi-screen movie complex and the construction of a plaza area, now known as Victorian Square, a pedestrian-friendly district that hosts many open-air events. The housing boom of the last decade has produced developments such as Wingfield Springs, the Foothills at Wingfield Springs and D’Andrea, which have combined to increase overall housing values in Sparks. With all the new residents, large big box retailers have opened new centers along the Pyramid Highway in northern Sparks.
Sparks, Nevada Attractions, Activities and AmenitiesSparks, Nevada real estate offers an escape from the round-the-clock entertainment of its sister city, Reno, which was the gambling capital of the world until the 1960s (when it was surpassed by Las Vegas). Casinos and stage shows still dominate Reno’s landscape. John Ascuaga’s Nugget Hotel is the only casino-hotel in Sparks, with 1,620 rooms.
Sparks honors its railroad history at the downtown Sparks Heritage Museum, which features railroad displays and memorabilia emphasizing the city’s connection to the industry, as well as the surrounding Sierra Nevada region.
Cultural events in and around Sparks and Reno include: the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off, at Sparks; Artown, Reno’s annual summer arts festival; Great Basin Chautauqua Festival, a portrayal of literary and historical figures held in conjunction with Artown; Hot August Nights, a classic car convention and rally in Reno; Street Vibrations, a motorcycle fan gathering and rally; the Great Reno Balloon Race; and the Reno National Championship Air Races, an airplane show and performance held each September.
Whitewater rafting at Truckee River Park at Wingfield in downtown Reno is a popular activity. The river, which meanders through Reno, is also the centerpiece of the Truckee River Walk, a brass and marble corridor that hosts various community and family events throughout the year.
The National Automobile Museum, in downtown Reno, has more than 200 antique and classic cars on display. Other Washoe County museums and similar attractions include: Wilbur D. May Center, a collection of objects assembled by world traveler and adventurer Wilbur May; Nevada Museum of Art; Nevada Historical Society Museum; and Animal Ark Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, about 10 miles east of Reno.
Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center on the University of Nevada-Reno campus at the north end of Reno, presents star shows, programs and astronomy and earth science exhibits. Church Fine Arts Museum is also located on campus.
Pyramid Lake, about 30 miles north of Sparks on State Road 445, is Nevada’s largest natural lake and the center of the Paiute tribe’s Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation.
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest lies west and south of Sparks, leading to the shores of Lake Tahoe. The sparsely-populated far northern end of Washoe County near the Oregon border includes Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge and Black Rock Desert/High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area.
Lake Tahoe, a year-round resort area at an elevation of 6,229 feet, is known as the “Lake in the Sky” and lies between the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Carson Range and is surrounded by three national forests. The less-developed northern shore of the lake is about 35 miles southwest of Reno. About one-third of the lake lies in Nevada. Remarkably clear and deep — averaging 989 feet in depth and 1,645 feet at its deepest point — Lake Tahoe has been a retreat for the wealthy for about 100 years. Snow skiing is popular at Lake Tahoe, especially at Alpine Meadows, Heavenly, Sierra Tahoe and Squaw Valley. The Tahoe Rim Trail is a 165-mile loop that circles the lake, offering beautiful views of the lake and mountains and opportunities for hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking.
The nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains are popular with winter sports enthusiasts for both downhill and cross-country skiing.
Major Reno casino-hotels include: the 1,720-room Silver Legacy Resort Casino, which features a 120-foot-tall mining rig that mints coins before your eyes; the 1,572-room Circus Circus Hotel/Casino, which features free circus performances; Atlantis Casino (980 rooms); Eldorado Hotel (816 rooms); Harrah’s (938 rooms); Peppermill (1,070 rooms); Reno Hilton (1,995 rooms); and Sands Regency Casino Hotel (833 rooms).
Whether you seek a luxury home, a starter home, a condominium, a townhouse or an investment property, NewHomesRealEstate.net can help you find the Sparks, Nevada real estate you desire.
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