Euro-American settlement began in the early 1850s, and the population density remained very low until 1904 when the Southern Pacific Railroad built a switch yard and maintenance sheds there, after moving the division point from Wadsworth.

It also offered to pick up and move every house in Wadsworth and reassemble it in this new town free of charge.

[8] In 1996, the redevelopment effort of the 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.

[6] Under direction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a comprehensive dynamic water quality computer model, the DSSAM Model, was developed (Earth Metrics, 1987) to analyze impacts of a variety of land use and stormwater management decisions throughout the 3,120-square-mile (8,100 km2) Truckee River basin; this model was used to develop a set of surface runoff stormwater management measures for Sparks in the 1980s.

[9] Panasonic Energy's manufacturing plant in Sparks, Gigafactory 1, produces EV batteries for Tesla.

Due to frequent low humidity, especially in the summer, daily temperature ranges are fairly wide.

There is a great amount of diurnal temperature variation, causing summers to go from very hot during the day to cool at night.

[20] In 2019, the Sparks library started a Drag Queen Story Hour, despite opposition from parents and conservative groups.

[22] The Nugget Event Center is an 8,600 seat outdoor concert amphitheater in downtown Sparks.

Aquatic activities include windsurfing, sailing, swimming, scuba diving, fishing and boating.

[24] The Mustang Ranch, described as "Nevada's most infamous brothel", has operated at various locations east of Sparks since 1967.

[26] Sparks also is gearing up for the record of decision on a major, $1.1 billion (estimated) arterial road project, one that will turn a large portion of Pyramid Highway through nearby Spanish Springs into a controlled access, high speed arterial road that connects directly with the US 395 freeway via a complex interchange at the current Parr Boulevard connection.

This project will also offer more direct freeway system and inter-valley connections to and from Sun Valley, another major population center of the Reno/Sparks metropolitan statistical area.

Sun Valley is located just north of Reno and just west of Spanish Springs, and is home to just over 20,000 residents as of 2020.