The Children's Fountain

Beloved Northland fountain in Children’s Fountain Park at North Oak Trafficway and NE 32nd Street.¹ Six bronze children at play, sculpted by Tom Corbin and modeled on children from his own neighborhood; turned on June 21, 1995 after a four-year, $1.7 million fundraising campaign led by Anita Gorman.¹ A landmark welcoming travelers entering the Northland.

History

The Children’s Fountain was turned on June 21, 1995.¹ Fundraising had begun in 1991, led by Anita Gorman — a Northland resident and then president of the Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation Board — and raised $1.7 million from public and private donations and from the sale of dedicatory bricks placed near the fountain.¹ The bronze figures are by Kansas City sculptor Tom Corbin; the fountain itself was designed by Larkin Aquatics, and the City of Fountains Foundation calls it one of the largest fountains in Kansas City.¹

[!note] Correction — number of figures This page previously described “eight cast-bronze children.” The City of Fountains Foundation records six figures.¹ Corrected 2026-07-31.

The dedication plaque reads: “The bronze figures represent children everywhere to whom this fountain is dedicated and the activities that shape young lives making childhood a joy.”¹

The fountain stands in Children’s Fountain Park at North Oak Trafficway and NE 32nd Street, and serves as a Northland landmark.¹

[!note] Correction — location This page (and its frontmatter) gives the address as “North Oak Trafficway + NE Vivion Rd.” The City of Fountains Foundation locates the fountain at North Oak Trafficway and NE 32nd Street, in Children’s Fountain Park — roughly a mile and a half south of Vivion Road.¹ The prose is corrected here; the frontmatter address and location coordinates are flagged in Open Questions rather than edited. Corrected 2026-07-31.

Sculptor

Tom Corbin is a Kansas City sculptor. He works through Corbin Bronze, his Kansas City studio, which publishes a catalog of his Kansas City public installations.² His other documented Kansas City public commissions include the Firefighters Fountain in Penn Valley Park (1991) and the Rev. John W. Williams Memorial on The Paseo (1991) — both recorded in Corbin’s own installation list² and in the National Register nomination for the Kansas City Parks and Boulevards Historic District³ — along with Buddy at Children’s Mercy Hospital (2015), Without Limits at the Kansas City Convention Center (2016), and Corbin Roo at UMKC (2021).²

[!note] Correction — Corbin’s wider portfolio This page asserted that Corbin’s work appears “at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Cerner corporate campus, and multiple residential commissions.” The Nelson-Atkins claim checks out: Corbin’s installation list records Evolution/Revolution Totem and Woman’s Rites Totem at the Nelson-Atkins (2025).² The Cerner claim does not: the word “Cerner” appears nowhere in Corbin’s own 17-page Kansas City installation catalog, and no other source consulted supports it. Cerner attribution flagged rather than repeated.

Architecture + materials

Six cast-bronze figures of children, each 8 to 9 feet tall, modeled on children who lived in Corbin’s neighborhood: Joy, posing happily on a pedestal; Meeting Challenges, a boy with crutches; a ballerina; a boy playing soccer; a boy standing on his head; and a girl wading into the pool.¹ They are arrayed around the fountain basin, with water jets creating motion and animation.

Current status

Operating; owned and maintained by the KCMO Parks & Recreation Department.¹ In the winter of 2015-16 the fountain was renovated and the sculptures cleaned.¹ Seasonal winter drawdown (typically late October through early April) is asserted by this page without a source.

Cultural significance

The Children’s Fountain is among the most beloved Northland public artworks. Its location at a busy intersection makes it a daily-encountered piece for thousands of Northland residents. It has been featured in KC tourism marketing as an example of the city’s “City of Fountains” identity beyond the Country Club Plaza.

The Foundation groups the fountain in its Northland gallery, one of nine location groupings in the citywide inventory.⁴

Visiting

• Address: Children’s Fountain Park, North Oak Trafficway and NE 32nd Street, Kansas City, MO¹
• Best time to visit: Spring through fall
• Public access: Free; 24-hour public space; on-street parking nearby

Sources

Footnotes

1. City of Fountains Foundation — “Children’s Fountain.” https://cityoffountains.org/childrens-fountain/ — asserts: six bronze figures by local sculptor Tom Corbin — Joy posing on a pedestal; Meeting Challenges, a boy with crutches; a ballerina; a boy playing soccer; a boy standing on his head; a girl wading into the pool — each 8 to 9 feet tall and based on children who lived in Corbin’s neighborhood; fundraising began 1991, led by Anita Gorman, Northland resident and then president of the Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation Board; $1.7 million raised through public and private donations and the sale of dedicatory bricks placed near the fountain; the fountain was designed by Larkin Aquatics and is one of the largest fountains in Kansas City; location given as Children’s Fountain Park, North Oak Trafficway and NE 32nd Street, Kansas City, MO; date 1995; the fountain was turned on June 21, 1995; dedication plaque text (“The bronze figures represent children everywhere…”); owner KCMO Parks & Recreation Department; renovated in the winter of 2015-16 with the sculptures cleaned. (cityoffountains.org returns HTTP 403 to plain automated fetches; full text read directly via Firecrawl 2026-07-31.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

2. Corbin Bronze (Tom Corbin’s Kansas City studio) — “Kansas City Public Installations by Tom Corbin,” 17-page catalog PDF. https://corbinbronze.com/wp-content/uploads/Kansas-City-Public-Installations-by-Tom-Corbin.pdf (studio home: https://corbinbronze.com/) — asserts: Corbin’s own list of his Kansas City public installations, including Children’s Fountain, 1995, N Oak Trafficway & NE 32nd St; Firefighters Fountain, 1991, Penn Valley Park, 31st St & Pennsylvania Ave; Rev. John W. Williams Memorial, 1991; Evolution/Revolution Totem and Woman’s Rites Totem at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2025; Corbin Roo at UMKC Miller Nichols Library, 2021; Without Limits at the Kansas City Convention Center, 2016; Buddy at Children’s Mercy Hospital, 2015. Contains no mention of Cerner. (PDF downloaded and text-extracted directly 2026-07-31. Caution: this catalog labels the Children’s Fountain “North Kansas City, MO,” which conflicts with KCMO Parks ownership — see Open Questions. The domain tomcorbin.com, implied by the former bare “Tom Corbin Studios” citation, does not resolve at all.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. National Park Service — National Register of Historic Places nomination, Kansas City Parks and Boulevards Historic District, reference number 14000931 (listed 2016). https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/14000931_text — asserts: Tom Corbin’s other documented Kansas City public commissions, namely The Firefighters Memorial Fountain in Penn Valley Park (“Tom Corbin with Larkin and Associates,” designed 1991, located in the southwest corner of the park on the north side of W. Thirty-first Street) and the Rev. John W. Williams Memorial on The Paseo (Tom Corbin, 1991). (343-page PDF downloaded and text-extracted directly 2026-07-31; requires a browser user-agent.) ↩

4. City of Fountains Foundation — “The Fountains of Kansas City” (master inventory index). https://cityoffountains.org/fountains-of-kansas-city/ — asserts: the Foundation organizes its fountain inventory into nine location groupings — Kansas City Metro Area; River Market to Liberty Memorial; Midtown Fountains; Country Club Plaza; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; The Paseo to Northeast; Northland; South Plaza, Westwood, Brookside to Mission Hills; and Kansas City Zoo, Swope Park and East of 71 Highway — plus an A-to-Z index; the Children’s Fountain is the page’s featured entry and is filed under Northland. (Read directly via Firecrawl 2026-07-31.) ↩