 About 7.4% of families and 9.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.8% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.The Fairmount area was settled in the 1830s mostly by Quakers from North Carolina.The town was laid out in 1850 and named for Fairmount Park in Philadelphia; it was formally incorporated in 1870.