| Fremont Rocket | |
| Mapframe: | yes |
| Year: | before 1991 |
| Medium: | Found object sculpture |
| Height Imperial: | 53 |
| Metric Unit: | m |
| Imperial Unit: | ft |
| City: | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Coordinates: | 47.6506°N -122.3512°W |
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 ", prompting the Fremont Business Association to buy it for $750. 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]
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",[2] 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]
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] The rocket's proximity to Fremont's Statue of Lenin contributed to its image as a Cold War relic.[2]