FAIRMONT, a city of northern West Virginia, U.S.A., 75m. S. by W. of Pittsburgh, at the head of navigation on the Monon gahela river; the county seat of Marion county. It is on Federal highway 19, and is served by the Baltimore and Ohio and the Monongahela railways. The population was 17,851 in 1920; 1930 it was 23,159. The city is built on hills, at an altitude of Boo to 90o feet. It is an important shipping point for coal, of which over 8,000,000 tons were mined in the county in 1926; it is the seat of a State normal school, and has various manufacturing industries (including powder and chemical plants, glass works and textile mills) with an output in 1927 valued at $10,495,160. A town was laid out here in 1819, which in 1842 became the county seat of the newly erected county. Until about 1844 it was called Middle town. The city was chartered in 1899. Since 1890, when the population was only 1,023, it has grown rapidly. In 1920 the population was 17,851.