FAIRMONT – U.S. Congressman David Rouzer of the 7th Congressional District paid a visit to the small Robeson County town of Fairmont Thursday, where he was briefed on an overview of the municipality and listened to the town manager’s requests for assistance.

This marked Rouzer’s first official visit to Fairmont, population 2,166. The Republican from Wilmington is in the midst of his fifth term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

North Carolina’s 7th Congressional District stretches from Wilmington and the South Carolina border to parts of Fayetteville. Robeson County is included in the district map.

Previously, Rouzer served as a member of the N.C. General Assembly, representing Johnston and Wayne counties in the 12th District of the Senate.

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“It’s a perfect opportunity to meet with our Congressman,” Fairmont Mayor Charles Kemp said before the meeting got underway in the Town Hall. “The goal is for him leaving here, understanding what we’ve got going on and believing in the future of Fairmont.”

Kemp said his town stalled as the tobacco and textile industries that had largely propped up Fairmont during the 1930s, ’40s, ’50s and ’60s began to fade away.

Along with those significant economic setbacks, the young people were leaving for better opportunities.

But the 77-year-old Kemp said he’s seeing a sea change in the town where he has lived all his life.

“Fairmont is becoming more energized,” he said just before the congressman’s arrival. “I want Fairmont to be known and recognized statewide for ingenuity and creativity and an ability to overcome stagnation.”

The town needs funding, grant money, he said.

“If we get the money,” Kemp added, “we’ll be able to do the things we need to do. If we can get the money.”

After Rouzer first gave an audience of 15 people a rundown of what he called “big-ticket items that Congress is going to be facing” — including a slate of current and future initiatives that he’s working on for the district — Kemp provided a brief history of the town that was once home to acclaimed New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell.

Rouzer, who just returned from an overseas defense Congressional delegation trip that started in Hawaii, spoke of China and how that Communist country is becoming more aggressive by the day.

“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they don’t try to take over Taiwan any time now, quite honestly,” he said. “Really, the purpose of the trip was to show our support for Taiwan. They really are a great beacon of hope and light in what otherwise would be a dark corner of the world.”

Congress, he said, is in the process of marking up and drafting annual appropriations bills.

He said a big focus of his since he has served in Congress is expanding broadband Internet access in needed rural stretches of the state.

“We made a lot of progress,” Rouzer said, “but still a lot of progress (needs) to be done in broadband deployment. That’s one area where Congress has spent a lot of money. Made some progress but still looking to improve upon that.”

Rouzer serves on the House Agriculture Committee, and he said the Farm Bill – which is up this year – will continue to be one of the vehicles to work on the expansion of broadband deployment.

He said he hopes to see a new Farm Bill in place by the end of the year.

“That is obviously important to a lot of agriculture communities,” he said, noting that nearly everything in this rural part of the state is connected by agriculture.

“Even those from the city who don’t know where the food comes from like to eat,” he quipped to some laughter. “They’re directly connected to agriculture, too. … We take this job seriously in terms of making sure we have a Farm Bill that provides the safety net that we need for our agriculture producers.”

Economic decline

Before Town Manager Jerome Chestnut was given the floor, Kemp talked about Fairmont’s decline into economic obscurity along the 1970s and ’80s.

“Because we had lost the two mainstays that we had – tobacco and textiles,” the mayor said.

Those were replaced by schools and service industries.

In terms of what had jump-started the growth in agricultural areas: Kemp said the town had good land, good climate and some farmer-type entrepreneurs who took tobacco planting seriously.

Also, the town had the largest lumber mill in the South – the Beaufort County Lumber Company out of Whaleyville, Virginia. The mill operated from north Fairmont, near the location of the existing Rosenwald Elementary School.

“We’ve been struggling for 25, 30 years,” he told Rouzer. “But what has happened is – there has been a revived spirit. There’s been a revision of spirit in this town …”

That, he surmised, had its start in August 2022.

It was then that Chestnut joined the team of town government leaders following a stint in Chadbourn.

Entrepreneurs are starting and operating businesses inside the town limits.

The town board has proven to be cohesive, according to Kemp, providing for a good working relationship.

Chestnut has proven especially successful at landing grant money for Fairmont. Because of his energy, Kemp said, Chestnut has secured over $2 million worth of grants.

“We’re in a very good place,” said the mayor, “but the thing that we’re lacking is the funds to do the other things that we need.”

The priorities going forward for the town of Fairmont are a new town hall, a senior citizens activity center, a youth activity center and the infrastructure to support housing. In most need, Chestnut laid out for the Congressman, are single-family homes and apartments.

“We have the land for single-family homes and apartments,” he continued, “but we don’t have the money to build the infrastructure.”

The reality of the town, Chestnut said to Rouzer: “We don’t have a lot of opportunities to make things better. But the chances we take are worth it.”

Currently, Fairmont is facing a decline in population.

“We cannot have a population decline because that means reduced funding for us for our citizens and our services,” Chestnut said.

He said 26% of the town’s population is 65 or older: “That’s a hard number for us. And that number gets harder over the next five years because that number is expected to rise an additional 7(%) to 10(%), based on the 65-age group right now.”

The poverty number is 33%, according to Chestnut. And 73% of that figure, he noted, are youth ages 17 and under.

In an odd twist, he said, the town’s demographics have made Fairmont very competitive for grants. Should Fairmont become stronger over time, it would become less competitive in the grants.

Chestnut said that’s where “we must become more self-sustainable.”

“Really, everyone sees the light at the end of the tunnel for Fairmont,” he said. “We’re striving and doing everything possible to move forward with the future. … We’re definitely not sitting on our hands and waiting for handouts. We just need hand ups from people and organizations and representatives like yourself help us get to the next level.”