Source: Raymond Boyd / Getty
BROWN COUNTY — The Indiana Historical Bureau is honoring Frank McKinney Hubbard, better known as Kin Hubbard with a historical marker in September.
Hubbard was a political cartoonist and journalist for the Indianapolis News from 1891 until his sudden death in 1930. He wrote and drew the cartoon character “Abe Martin” whose single panel cartoon quips were nationally syndicated in over 300 newspapers. The character of Abe Martin reflected the typical midwesterner with plain clothes, a beard, pipe, and speech.
Hubbard is being honored in the area that was the setting for the Abe Martin cartoons, Brown County. The state of Indiana named areas of the Brown County State Park after him in 1932 with the Kin Hubbard Ridge and Abe Martin Lodge.
Now on September 1st, 2023 they will add a historical marker to the park commemorating his legacy as a journalist and political cartoonist. The unveiling of the marker will take place on what would be Hubbard’s 155th birthday and is open to the public. Festivities will begin at 10:30 a.m. outside of Abe Martin Lodge.
Hubbard died suddenly of a heart attack in 1930. The Abe Martin Cartoon was still published in syndication for years following his passing. He was inducted posthumously into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame in 1967.
