A view of Mill Pond at Deering Oaks Park, designed by William Goodwin, with the Duck House (1887) visible in the center. An iron spray fountain (1885), built on a timber grillage laid seven feet below the pond’s bed, can be seen on the right. On the far left, in the trees, a wooden bridge with arches (1881) can be seen spanning an arm of the pond.

Located on marshy tidal flats that drained into Back Bay, the pond’s waters had once powered a mill at Deering’s Bridge. After the Deering family bequeathed Deering Oaks to the city in 1879, Portland City civil engineer Goodwin created a permanent pond in the park by closing the bridge's gates. Measuring four acres, Mill Pond was available to paddle boaters in the summer and skaters in the winter.

This photograph was included in an album compiled by civil engineer William S. Edwards, who worked as First Assistant to William Goodwin. Written beneath the image is "Pond, Deering's Oaks. July 1, 1887."