Explore Seattle’s Fremont Neighborhood: “The Center of the Universe”

eATLAS’ Strange(r) Seattle in Fremont scavenger hunt adventure takes players through nine pieces of public art—murals, sculptures, and statues—in the Seattle neighborhood known for its quirky art.

By Dave Lifton (@daveeatschicago)

As Seattle was first being settled by white men in the 1850s, the concept of digging a shipping canal into a narrow stream—known as the “Outlet”—connecting Lakes Union and Washington with Salmon Bay and Puget Sound was first suggested. Sensing the potential value of the undeveloped land north of the Outlet, John Ross and William Strickler claimed land in the northwest corner of Lake Union.

Ross’ developments, including building schools, caused the new town and the Outlet to be named for him. In 1885, Ross Creek was widened to allow for small boats to get through and for logs to be floated to a nearby sawmill, and a wooden bridge connecting Fremont to Queen Anne was constructed. Two years later, all the forest along the north bank had been cleared, and the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad began serving Ross.

In May 1888, Edward Blewett, a wealthy businessman, purchased a large plot of land for $55,000 through an agent, Luther H. Griffith. Both hailed from Fremont, Neb., itself named after explorer and politician John C. Fremont, and Blewett chose to call the new area after their hometown. Griffith, his father, and Dr. E.C. Kilbourne—a native of Aurora, Ill., who helped Blewett with the purchase—were among the founders of the Fremont Milling Company and helped to develop the land, which were sold in parcels for between $75 and $500.

On June 6, 1889, 120 acres of downtown Seattle were destroyed by a fire. Many businesses relocated to Fremont, and the growing town was annexed into Seattle two years later.

But by the turn of the century, the canal—the reason for the settlement of Fremont—still hadn’t been built. Work on it finally started in 1911, and the Stone Way Bridge constructed to replace that wooden bridge. Six years later and more than 60 years after it was first proposed, the Ballard Locks of the Lake Washington Ship Canal finally opened. Three weeks prior, the bascule Fremont Bridge replaced the Stone Way.

A block to the east, the longer and higher George Washington Memorial Bridge (also known as Aurora Bridge), arrived in 1932. But the progress came at a cost. Many historic residences were demolished, a commercial district was bypassed, and Fremont’s easternmost blocks were isolated.

The Depression wasn’t kind to Fremont. The lack of construction deeply affected the logging industry, and many mills closed or left for other neighborhoods. Fremont turned into a vice district, and by the end of the ‘60s had become populated largely by hippies and motorcycle gangs.

Help soon arrived, with the Fremont Public Association (now Solid Ground) created to fight poverty through social services, and the Fremont Fair, which started two years earlier, became its annual fundraiser. The Fremont Arts Council followed, and the area became filled with public art. One of the first was Richard Beyer’s Waiting for the Interurban, an aluminum sculpture of six people and a dog as they await the rail line that ran through Seattle from 1910-39.

Other works, including the Troll below the Aurora Bridge at 36^th St. or a neon Rapunzel on one of the towers of the Fremont Bridge, were installed, as was a controversial statue of Vladimir Lenin. The neighborhood became known as the “Artistic Republic of Fremont.” Others started to refer to it as the “Center of the Universe.”

This was made official in 1994, when a signpost was installed at the intersection of Fremont Ave. and 35^th St. Pointing towards such exotic locales as Machu Picchu, the Louvre, Timbuktu, Taiwan, and the Lost City of Atlantis, as well as Fremont’s most famous sculptures, the work was dedicated with a proclamation by the Metropolitan King County Council that called Fremont “a State of Mind, not a foreign nation but an ImagiNation based on the freedom to dream.” 

However, as Fremont was being celebrated for its singular weirdness, changes were on the way. Fremont became a tech center, with Adobe building a campus on the waterfront between the two bridges, and others followed suit. As a result, rents are higher and the streets are more congested. But those two forces—the bohemian, arts district known for nude bike rides and the money from the tech giants—have led to Fremont’s status as one of the most vibrant communities in Seattle.