Abe Sherman

Abe Sherman (1898–1987) was proprietor of an established Baltimore newsstand located at the Battle Monument in the financial district. A well known local who started as a newsie on street corners in 1906. Abe then owned and operated as a news vendor at the foot of the War monument at Calvert and Fayette streets near the post office and city hall.

Sherman was a popular figure in Baltimore and his newsstand specialized in domestic and foreign papers like the soviet Izvestia and the Irish Post. A literary critic as well and he knew notable writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Manchester, and H.L. Mencken. He started selling papers for the Baltimore Sun at one cent a copy. He was an acquaintance of baseball legend Babe Ruth before the Depression.

Sherman's longevity as news vendor has made his mark as famous as the monument that shadows his newsstand. When the city decided to redecorate the Monument square it was agreed to relocate Sherman's stand. Baltimoreans raised an uproar and the city built a modern-day news kiosk at the same site at the bequest of influential city leaders like Mayor Theodore McKeldin and Thomas D'Alesandro III.

Abe was a civic figure and veteran of World War I. Volunteering again in World War II at age 47 he was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry under fire. He raised two sons and his son Brigadier General Philip Sherman would become a Baltimore attorney who founded the Museum of Baltimore Legal History in the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse, right across the street from his father's newsstand.