Harry L. Johnson Memorial Fountain, (sculpture).

Harry L. Johnson Memorial Fountain, (sculpture).

Keck, Charles, 1875-1951, sculptor.

Tiffany and Company, founder.

Gorham Manufacturing Company, founder.

Harry L. Johnson Memorial Fountain, (sculpture).

Pool and bench installed 1922. Sculpture installed Nov. 1923.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: concrete; Fountain basin: cast stone; Bench: cast stone.

Sculpture: approx. 43 x 31 x 35 in.; Pool: approx. H. 27 in. x Diam. 82 in.

Chas. Keck sc. (On bench:) This fountain was given by the school children in memory of their friend Harry L. Johnson MCMXXII signed

A bronze fountain sculpture of a little boy kneeling on his proper left leg with the head of a fish resting on his knee. The fish's body runs down the front of the little boy's thigh and the fish's tail curls around the little boy's calf. The little boy holds the fish's mouth open with his proper right hand, and water sprays out from the fish's open mouth. Around the boy's head is a wreath of shells. The bronze sculpture is mounted on a circular concrete base within a cast stone basin that collects the fountain water, which then spills over into a rectangular reflecting pool. At the west end of the pool is a semicircular cast stone bench.

Homage -- Johnson, Harry L.

Figure male -- Child -- Full length

Object -- Other -- Shell

Outdoor Sculpture -- New York -- Binghamton

Administered by City of Binghamton, Planning, Housing & Community Development Department, City Hall, 4th Floor, Binghamton, New York 13901

Located Recreation Park, Binghamton, New York

Harry L. Johnson (1873-1921) was the youngest brother of industrialist George F. Johnson, cofounder of the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Corporation. Harry L. Johnson eventually rose to general manager of the Johnson City factories of the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Corporation. He is credited with devising a plan to provide homes for the company's workers during the World War I housing shortages. The company purchased land, and homes were built, and then rented to the workers with the rent being applied to the purchase price of the home. The memorial's pool and fountain were donated in 1922 by Mrs. R. Z. Spaulding. The sculpture was purchased in 1922 or 1923 from Tiffany & Company, with pennies collected by the children of the community. IAS files contain an excerpt from Gerald R. Smith's "The Valley of Opportunity: A Pictorial History of the Greater Binghamton Area," Norfolk, VA: The Donning Company, 1988, pg. 163.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York survey, 1994.

SOS Assessment Award, 1999.

Inventory staff, 2000.

Smith, Gerald R., "The Valley of Opportunity: A Pictorial History of the Greater Binghamton Area," Norfolk, VA: The Donning Company, 1988, pg. 163.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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