Sparta Electric Building, Sparta Tennessee

The Tennessee Railway, Light, and Power Company was formed in 1912 by banking houses in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York. The company was chartered in Maine with $50,000,000 preferred stock and $20,000,000 common stock. The power-generating plants were operated by the subsidiary, Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCO), financed by $50,000,000 in fifty-year, five percent mortgage bonds. This reorganization gave TEPCO the hydroelectric property of the Eastern Tennessee Power Company and the assets of the Great Falls Power Company, consisting largely of a power site at Rock Island. Consolidation proceeded with acquisition by TEPCO of other small plants serving various towns.
According to the study by historian William A. Doran, in July 1912 TEPCO purchased the Sparta hydroelectric plant of the Anderson-Tubb Power Company, which had been initially established in 1902.
By 1914, TEPCO was reported as owning the power plants in several other towns in the Nashville Banner of August 21st and 24th, 1914. The company's economic power was clearly apparent. A report that year from the office of the state geologist observed that TEPCO:
These local properties, like the earlier Sparta system, were to serve primarily as distribution systems, for the Tennessee Power's major activity lay in the building of the large central generating plants. The Electric Building in Sparta was used as just such a distribution center, probably by 1917.
The production of hydroelectric power has been an integral part of the development of White County, Tennessee since the establishment of Rock Island as a hydroelectric source in 1898 when the Great Falls Power Company was organized and incorporated. Hydroelectric power came to Sparta in 1900. Joined by other stockholders and leaders, the corporation further organized the Tennessee Electric Power Company on April 24th, 1912. It was at this time that it took over the Great Falls Power Company property located on the White County side of the Great Falls of the Caney Fork River. After 1912, there was a power plant constructed at a point below Sparta known as the Old Factory Site. This property is the Sparta Hydroelectric Station. In 1914, state geologists reported: "the Great Falls power site and reservoir at the junction of the Caney Fork and Collins Rivers, near Rock Island, Tennessee, is capable of development of 80,000 horse power, and [it is] said to be the most desirable water power site in Tennessee. " (The Water Powers of Tennessee, 72).
TEPCO continually expanded its power facilities. In 1915, they began work on a 40-foot-high dam to meet increased demand from nearby cities like Sparta and McMinnville. Sometime in the next six years, the company also established an office and local distribution center in the Crab Orchard stone building on South Main Street for nearby businesses and residences. The Lee Lumber Company initially owned the building, for what purpose is not known, and then leased it to the electric company.
In 1912, TEPCO had purchased the local Anderson and Tubb Power Company; probably by 1917, the company acquired the South Main property for its local office. The 1921 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Sparta confirm that the building was used as a power distribution center and office by that date. The 1910s had been a key decade of growth for the city of Sparta and local lumber industries particularly benefited from increased demand for their products during World War I. Although records confirming the exact date cannot be located, our professional judgment is that the power office was put in operation sometime between 1917 and 1921, with the most likely time being circa 1917 since that date coincided with the expansion and improvement of facilities at the dam and the purchase of the local power company by TEPCO. It also coincided with the improvement of other commercial facilities in the town, most notably the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad's construction of a new depot.
In 1923, TEPCO raised the dam again after a flood had washed it out and installed a 20,107-horse power generator, increased the old generator to 15,416 horsepower, built a new brick powerhouse, and cleared the reservoir. This output project was completed in April 1925. In 1923 Sparta received an 11,000-volt line and in 1927, it received a 44,000 volt line. Despite these changes, the South Main property remained the office and distribution center for Sparta and it remained so until the arrival of rural electric cooperatives and the TVA changed forever the distribution of electric power in the mid-1930s.
Building Description
Located in Sparta/White County, Tennessee, the Sparta Electric building, constructed circa 1917, is an example of functional architecture with no definable architectural style. This building faces north on South Main Street in the heart of an early twentieth-century residential area several blocks from downtown Sparta.
The rectangular 16' X 23'10" building rests on a stone foundation which is not apparent from the front of the building but forms a basement in the rear of the building. The building is of Crab Orchard stone. The gable front roof is steeply pitched and is covered with pressed tin.
The north facade has centrally located double-leaf wood-panelled doors that once had single lights but now are boarded up with plywood. On each side of the center doorway is one window now boarded up. From one side it is apparent that the windows were double-hung. The gable front has a pressed tin covering and a rectangular louvered vent. There are holes underneath the gable in the stone where electrical wires entered and exited the building.
The west facade has no window or door openings. A wooden rail is under the roofline and it is where the electrical wires were connected to the building and the insulators were located.
The south facade of the building has a double-hung window opening that is half-boarded up. There is another window opening in the foundation section of the building which leads into the basement or cellar.
The east facade of the building is identical to the west facade with no window or door openings and the wooden rail for the insulators.
The building is presently being used for storage. The interior, however, remains intact. There are hardwood floors and built-in wood shelves stacked four high. The shelves are actually cubbyholes used by the electric company for their paperwork. The ceiling is wood plank and the walls are covered in plaster. There is a single light fixture hanging down from the center of the ceiling.

Front north facade of building (1992)

Gable front on north of building (1992)

East elevation of building (1992)

Upper east facade and pressed tin roof (1992)

South elevation of building (1992)

West elevation of building (1992)

Northwest facade of building (1992)
