Sparta Historic District

Bricktown is a compact residential neighborhood on the south side of Sparta, Illinois, centered on West Third and South St. Louis Streets. Its fourteen nominated houses, nearly all two-story brick, date from about 1860 to 1879 and show Gothic Revival, Victorian, Greek Revival, Italianate and Federal influences. Many have "Steamboat Gothic" porches, marble fireplaces, parquet floors and thick masonry walls. One exception is a wood-frame Victorian house with a circular porch and turret, which still has a carved brick chimney. The neighborhood grew from the vision of William Rosborough, a merchant and developer who reportedly would sell a lot only to buyers who promised to build a good brick house. Local kilns supplied the brick, and the original owners included physicians, merchants, a mayor and a woolen mill operator. The district was listed because it preserves a cohesive group of large brick homes that has no equal elsewhere in Sparta.