page_title: Sparta, New Jersey
section_title: Tourism
hierarchical_section_title: Sparta, New Jersey / History / Tourism
caption_attribution_description: English: The former New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad station in Sparta, New Jersey. The station is seen from a nearby business in November 2011.
context_page_description: Sparta Township is a township in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 19,722, reflecting an increase of 1,642 from the 18,080 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 2,923 from the 15,157 counted in the 1990 Census.
  Sparta was organized as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 14, 1845, from portions of Byram Township, Frankford Township, Hardyston Township and Newton Township. The township was named after the existing community of Sparta, which had been settled and named years before, the name likely coming from Sparta, Greece. Ogdensburg borough was incorporated on February 26, 1914, from portions of Sparta Township.
context_section_description: The New Jersey Midland Railroad opened to Ogdensburg in 1872 for zinc ore traffic, but in 1882 the line was extended to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and a station was built at Sparta, giving tourists easy access to the many boarding houses that served summer residents from the cities.  Passenger service ended in 1935, but by then Sparta was well established as a summer destination.  In 1926, the Arthur D. Crane Company along with developer and designer Herbert L. Closs constructed a 600-foot (180 m) dam across the Wallkill River to form 300-acre (1.2 km²) Lake Mohawk in 1928. The private resort community created by the Crane Company consisted primarily of summer homes, but the homes began to be winterized in the 1940s and the current membership of 2,600 families are largely year-round residents.
caption: The former New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad station in Sparta, as viewed from a nearby business in November 2011. The station depot burned in an early morning fire on September 3, 2012.[28]
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