15-04-2025
Demolition begins for Fairmont Box Factory
FAIRMONT, (WBOY) — After sitting vacant for more than 30 years, the Fairmont Box Factory is now being demolished to create a facility that city officials believe will be monumental for the city.
Monday began the initial process of the demolition, preceded by a ceremony to commemorate the factory's history and its new beginning.
The City of Fairmont is planning to construct a community recreational area in place of the factory that will also extend the West Fork Trail into the neighborhood.
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'This is going to become a community recreation area where people are down here and we're going to be transforming the Beltline neighborhood, not just here, but the old Helmic property site as well. And to sports tourism and recreational tourism, and I think it's just a big day for Fairmont, one of several big days that are coming,' Fairmont City Manager Travis Blosser said.
The city plans to pay homage to the factory's history and impact on its community by tying the history of glassmaking into the new facility and utilizing rubble from the demolition as fill aggregate.
The demolition is a part of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's (WVDEP) 'Delap 2' initiative, which awarded Fairmont $450,000 for this site alone.
More than $918,000 has already been invested in the city, with 18 structures demolished, although WVDEP Secretary Harold Ward said that five to seven structures are still in the works.
'This is not a profit-based initiative, it's about community improvement and uplifting the community and savings for the community, there's an inherited economic benefit with it that goes along with it. I mean this property that's next to the recreational facility over here on river frontage, it's going to be enormous for Fairmont,' Ward said.
Groundbreaking for the recreational area is scheduled to begin this summer and continue into the fall.
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