Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States, located east of Reno, Nevada. The 2010 U.S. Census Bureau population count was 90,264. Sparks is often referred to as half of a twin city (i.e., "Reno-Sparks").

The population density in the area remained very low until 1904 when the Southern Pacific Railroad built a switch yard and maintenance sheds there. The city that sprung up around them was first called Harriman after E. H. Harriman, president of the Southern Pacific. The city was quickly renamed Sparks after John Sparks, the Governor of Nevada at that time.

Sparks remained a small and sleepy town until the 1950s, when economic growth in Reno triggered a housing boom north of the railroad in the area of Sparks. During the 1970s, the area south of the railroad started to fill up with warehouses and light industry. In 1984 the tower for John Ascuaga's Nugget was finished, giving Sparks its first, and currently only, high-rise casino. In 1996, the redevelopment effort of the old and unsightly B Street business district across from the Nugget that started in the early 1980s took a step forward with the opening of a multi-screen movie complex and the construction of a plaza area. This area, now known as Victorian Square, is a pedestrian-friendly district that hosts many open-air events.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparks,_Nevada