Kin Hubbard Park Gets Abe Martin Stat…uh, Cutout
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Popeye, Superman, Steve Canyon, Andy Capp, the Peanuts characters, Dick Tracy, Joe Palooka, and many more comic characters have statues dedicated to them. Now, finally, the famous Abe Martin has a statue, er, cutout.
Abe Martin by Kin Hubbard began 115 years ago,
first appearing in the Indianapolis News on December 17, 1904.
above: Kin Hubbard and Abe Martin via Tom Heintjes Twitter feed.
The feature became very popular launching dozens of copies, some quite racist.
Even today descendants of the Abe Martin quip genre continue.
On December 17, 2019, the 115th anniversary of Abe’s debut,
The Irvington Historical Society, the City of Indianapolis Parks Department and the Irvington Garden Club collaborated on a project to install the Abe Martin character, the creation of cartoonist and Bellefontaine native Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard, at Hubbard Park in Indianapolis.
Before:
After:
The Bellefontaine Examiner, which still runs old Abe Martin panels, carries the story.
This early 2018 Yelp review may have been the catalyst to get something done.
And the park IS just a very small neighborhood green area:
above via Google Maps
But still, any promotion of comics is a good thing.
The above and more Abe Martin chestnuts at the Irvington Historical Society.
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