Fremont Rocket
The rocket in 2009
Yearbefore 1991
MediumFound object sculpture
Dimensions16 m (53 ft)
LocationSeattle, Washington, U.S.
Coordinates47°39′02″N 122°21′04″W / 47.65061°N 122.35118°W / 47.65061; -122.35118

The Fremont Rocket is a sculpture of a rocket in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, US. The rocket had been displayed at an army surplus store in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood until 1991, when a news radio broadcast said the store was dismantling its "circa 1950 Cold War rocket fuselage [sic]", prompting the Fremont Business Association to buy it for $750.[1][2] The Business Association took a few years to overcome problems with assembling and erecting the rocket, finally placing it at its current location at N 35th St. and Evanston Ave N. on June 3, 1994.[1][3]

Though the salvaged "rocket fuselage" description has been repeated by some sources, and a Fremont chamber of commerce member called it a "de-fanged Cold War emblem",[4][5] it is not made of any rocket or missile parts but rather from a military surplus tail boom originally part of a Fairchild C-119 'Flying Boxcar' transport aircraft. It has a stereotypical 1920s streamlined Art Deco sci-fi space rocket appearance, adorned with "neon laser pods" in the style of rayguns.[1][2][3]

The rocket bears Fremont's coat of arms and motto De Libertas Quirkas or "Freedom to be Peculiar", and was called "phallic and zany-looking" by Lonely Planet, which said the neighborhood has adopted it as a "community totem".[1][3] The rocket's proximity to Fremont's Statue of Lenin contributed to its image as a Cold War relic.[4]

C119 tail booms

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Divjak, Helen (2006), Seattle's Fremont; Images of America, Arcadia Publishing, p. 100, ISBN 0738531197
  2. 1 2 Houston, we have lift off, Fremont, Seattle: Fremont Chamber of Commerce
  3. 1 2 3 "Fremont Rocket". Lonely Planet. Archived from the original on June 6, 2014. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  4. 1 2 de Leon, Ferdinand M. (June 1, 1995). "Lenin moves into Fremont—bronze statue moves from 'burbs to Fremont". The Seattle Times. p. B1. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Seattle", Fodor's Seattle, Fodor's Travel, 2017, p. 137, ISBN 978-0147546838, retrieved August 19, 2019
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.