Did You Know?

Did the letters on the very first license plates have any meaning?

Back in 1901, New York Governor Benjamin Odell Jr. signed the first law requiring that owners of motor vehicles display identification on their vehicles. These weren’t the license plates with a jumble of numbers and letters that we know today, however. Initially, the law just required that cars or motorcycles display their owners’ initials in a conspicuous place on the back of the vehicle, with the initials at least three inches high. Soon, however, there were enough drivers on the road with the same initials that a new system had to be implemented. In 1903, New York passed a law requiring the New York Secretary of State to assign each owner a unique number to be displayed on the back of their vehicle — although New Yorkers would have to create their own plates until the state began providing them in 1910.

Now, in 2020, we can still have our initials on our license plate by ordering a personalized plate. There are lots of fun ones around!