Fairmont Senior High School

5th Street building

In 1905, Fairmont High School relocated to its second location at the 5th Street building, which is now a gym.[7]

Loop Park building

In 1929, the high school opened at the Loop Park location, which is where Fairmont Senior High School currently resides. The school was built in 1928. Architect William B. Ittner designed the Loop Park building.[11]

Until the 1950s, Fairmont Senior High School was an all-white school. In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that segregated schools had to integrate in the Brown v. the Board of Education decision. As a result, the all-black Dunbar School was closed and integrated with Fairmont Senior. On September 30, 1954, Fairmont Senior played a football game with Dunbar School, the only football game the two schools played together before Dunbar School closed.[8]

In 1979, a fire damaged a large section of the school's roof. Much of the Loop Park building was constructed with concrete, which helped to mitigate the fire's damage.[12]

On March 22, 2002, the United States government listed Fairmont Senior on the National Register of Historic Places.[4][13]

A statue of Abraham Lincoln in front of the now-defunct Senior Court before 2009. The Senior Court was later replaced by a media center.

Senior Court was a feature of the Loop Park building. The Senior Court did not have a ceiling, and there is a statue of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln standing in front of it.[15]

In 2010, a school bond was passed by the Marion County Board of Education to renovate Fairmont Senior's campus.[16] This $4.2 million project included replacing the Senior Court with a school media center.[17] The project took a few years to complete.[16] Unlike the Senior Court, the media center has a ceiling and is a two-story room with a balcony.[18]

Originally, Fairmont Senior only had one gymnasium, which was located on the second floor of the main building. In November 1989, a proposal was made for a new physical education facility beside Fairmont Senior's Freshman Building. Work for the facility began in 1992. Despite objections and a lawsuit from area residents, the facility was completed a few years later.[19]

The Freshman Building in the winter of 2017.

Fairmont Senior has a one-story building located at the east end of its campus, which is known as the Freshman Building.[11] In the early 1990s, a chemistry lab was built adjacent to the Freshman Building.[20]

Fairmont Senior's marching band plays at East-West Stadium for the 52nd annual FSHS Band Spectacular in 2017.

Fairmont Senior has a marching band, which is known as the Fairmont Senior High School Polar Bear Band.[23] The school's marching band was first directed full time by Earl McConnell Sr.[24] The marching band has performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City,[25] Walt Disney World, and Universal Studios.[26] The school holds a Band Spectacular annually at East-West Stadium where college and high school bands play their respective field shows.[27][28]

Other than the school's marching band, the school's instrumental music curriculum has previously included symphonic band, concert band, jazz ensemble, and steel band.[29]

Fairmont Senior's choir performs in a concert at the school's auditorium in 2018.

Fairmont Senior has three choral groups: the Madrigals, women's ensemble, and men's ensemble.[30] The full name of the school's Madrigals group is the Fairmont Senior Madrigal Chamber Choir, which is considered to be a renaissance style a cappella choir.[31] The group was started by Doug Bunner in 1985;[32] he taught at the school until his retirement in 2006.[33] The group hosts an annual elimination dinner at the Fairmont Knights of Columbus,[34] and the school presents the Madrigals's Yuletide Feast biennially (a tradition that started in 1985).[35] The group has performed at other places, such as the current Fairmont Senior building,[36] Meadowbrook Mall,[37] West Virginia University Mountainlair,[38] and the WorldStrides OnStage competition in Orlando, Florida.[30]

Fairmont Senior offers a thespian program. Fairmont Senior's thespians group is known as the Fairmont Senior High School Thespians Troupe.[39] Fairmont Senior's group has performed in different events, such as the West Virginia State Thespian Festival.[40]

Two polar bear statues stand at the entrance of Fairmont Senior in 2017.

The mascot of Fairmont Senior is the Polar Bear. The name is a reference to Fairmont Senior's athletic teams who were known as "Ice's men" due to Fairmont Senior coach Frank Ice.[75] Similarly, the mascot of West Fairmont Middle School, a Fairmont Senior feeder school, is the Polar Cubs[76] or Polar Bears Cubs.[77]

East Fairmont High School and Fairmont Senior have a football rivalry. Their football teams have met annually beginning on October 25, 1921,[78] making the series the oldest continuously played football rivalry in West Virginia. Fairmont Senior leads the series with a record of (67-28-7) over East Fairmont. Fairmont Senior has won the last 15 matchups against East Fairmont.[79] One main place they meet is East-West Stadium in Fairmont.[80]

Fairmont Senior is considered an "above average" school by Niche.[81] In 2020, the U.S. News & World Report ranked Fairmont Senior as 3380th in its national ranking, 10th in West Virginia, and 1st in Marion County.[82]

Fairmont Senior received the 2010 Blue Ribbon honor,[83] and in 2019, the school was recognized with the Champion of College Access and Success award for "efforts to make students aware of higher education opportunities after they graduate".[84]

Math teacher Sarah Snyder was honored by President Barack Obama with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in 2016.[85] The following year, Fairmont Senior English teacher Toni Poling was recognized as the 2017 West Virginia Teacher of the Year.[86][87]