Explore Portland's Iconic Joy Fountain and Council Crest Park

Portland, Oregon

Joy is a 1956 drinking fountain sculpture by Frederick Littman.

Close-up view of the 1956 drinking fountain sculpture 'Joy' by Frederick Littman, featuring elegantly designed water spouts and a plaque, set in a park with a green lawn in the background. — Water fountain sculpture

A bronze sculpture of a mother and child, titled 'Joy', installed in a park surrounded by green grass and benches. — Council Crest Park-Portland Oregon

Council Crest Park is one of the highest points in Portland, Oregon.

In July 1956, a welded, sheet bronze drinking fountain featuring a mother and child was installed in the park. Sculpted by Frederick Littman, an associate professor of art at Portland State College, it has been mistakenly identified as a pioneer woman. The sculptor said the statue did not represent a particular era; it was simply a mother and child playing in the park and depicts joy. The fountain was made possible by a $6,000 bequest to the city in 1949 from the estate of Florence Laberee, widow of local builder and contractor George P. Laberee.

In the 1980s, the statue was stolen in the middle of the night by vandals who used hacksaws to dismantle it from its base, sawing through the mother’s ankles. Nearly 10 years later, during a narcotics raid on a home in northeast Portland, officers found the statue under a cover in the backyard. The statue was returned to the park and placed in the center near the entrance, as opposed to its original location on the eastern side of the park