The Childrens Fountain, Kansas City, USA
The Childrens Fountain - 1995
One of the most recent fountains to be dedicated in Kansas City is also one of the largest. Kansas City is second only to Rome in the number of fountains it contains. The plan for a city with as many fountains as Rome and as many boulevards as Paris was developed early in the city planning stages. The city continues with that notion to this day. The idea for an outdoor fountain celebrating the children of Kansas City was developed in the early nineties. The site chosen for the water fountain was at a park north of the Missouri River in an area known as North Kansas City. The park is named the Anita Gorman Park after the first female president of the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners. The piece of land selected for the fountain is triangular in shape and visible from roads to the east and west. The sculptures for the fountain were created by a local sculptor, Tom Corbin. Corbin is responsible for many of the brass sculptures used in Kansas City’s fountains. His work has also gained a broader recognition in the art world in recent years. Corbin created six sculptures of children for the fountain.
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Corbin used area children as models for the sculptures, which appeared on pedestals that descended in height. The first of the sculpture children is a girl called Joy who is shown frolicking on the highest pedestal. The second is a boy using crutches who is called Meeting Challenges, he is positioned with his crutches outstretched, balancing on one leg. Next, there is a girl ballerina posing. Then a boy playing soccer is shown followed by a boy standing on his hands. Lastly, a girl with pigtails is wading in the water.
The sculptures rest in a pool of water that is 100 feet long by 60 feet wide. The fountain was designed so that the water is visible from cars driving on the roads nearby. Each of the statures is positioned so that water shooting up from nearby jets overlaps them. The bubbling streams of water are intended to suit the playful, childlike mood set by the fountain. The concrete plaza that surrounds the water fountain contains a number of brick paving blocks that indicate donors to the fountain’s construction.
The fountain cost $1.7 million dollars to build and pumps 8,000 gallons of water a minute through its 100 horsepower pump. Larkin Engineers provided all of the engineering for the fountain, which is very unique because of its ability to continue flowing even through the freezing months of winter.
The Children's Fountain, sometimes jokingly referred to as Kansas City’s own ‘Fountain of Youth,” stands as a testament to the commitment of the city to its children. The fountain was dedicated in 1995.
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