Pre-1974 Passenger Car License Plates

We hope that you enjoy viewing the photos that appear on this page. However, supplement your early D.C. plate experience by reading the stories behind them:

1903-1907	Registration Begins in D.C.
1907-1917	The Porcelain Era

1907-1917 White on black, issued singly 6" x 10" and 6" x 12", porcelain enamel on iron These examples were issued in 1907 (no. 971) and 1915. Read more about 1907-17 plates below.

	1918 Follow this link to read about 1918 plates.
	1919 Follow this link to read about 1919 plates.
	1920 Follow this link to read about 1920 plates.
	1921 Follow this link to read about 1921 plates.
	1922 Follow this link to read about 1922 plates.
	1923 Follow this link to read about 1923 plates.
	1924 Follow this link to read about 1924 plates.
	1925 Follow this link to read about 1925 plates.
	1926 Follow this link to read about 1926 plates.
	1927 As is evident in these 1927 plates there are two die varieties for this year, evidence that the total quantity of plates required was likely procured from (at least) two manufacturers. Follow this link to read more about 1927 plates.
	1928 Follow this link to read about 1928 plates.
	1929 Follow this link to read about 1929 plates.
	1930 Follow this link to read about 1930 plates.
	1931 Follow this link to read about 1931 plates.
	1932 Follow this link to read about 1932 plates.
	1933 Follow this link to read about 1933 plates.
	1934 Follow this link to read about 1934 plates.
	1935 Follow this link to read about 1935 plates.

		1936 Follow this link to read about 1936 plates.
		1937 Follow this link to read about 1937 plates.
		1938 Follow this link to read about 1938 plates.
		1939 Used Jan. 1, 1939, through Feb. 29, 1940. Follow this link to read about 1939 plates.
		1940 Used Mar. 1, 1940, through Mar. 31, 1941. Follow this link to read about 1940 plates.
		1941 Used April 1, 1941, through March 31, 1942. Follow this link to read about 1941 plates.
		1942 Used April 1, 1942, through March 31, 1945. Follow this link to read about 1942 plates.
		1943 1942 plate validated with a tab to expire 3-31-44. Follow this link to read about 1943 plates.
		1944 1942 plate validated with a tab to expire 3-31-45. Follow this link to read about 1944 plates.
		1945 Used April 1, 1945, through March 31, 1946. Follow this link to read about 1945 plates.
		1946 Used April 1, 1946, through March 31, 1948. Follow this link to read about 1946 plates.
		1947 1946 plate validated with a tab to expire 3-31-48. Follow this link to read about 1947 plates.

	1948 Used April 1, 1948, through March 31, 1949. Follow this link to read about 1948 plates.
	1949 Used April 1, 1949, through March 31, 1950. Follow this link to read about 1949 plates.
	1950 Used April 1, 1950, through March 31, 1951. Follow this link to read about 1950 plates.
	1951 Used April 1, 1951, through March 31, 1952. Follow this link to read about 1951 plates.
	1952 Used April 1, 1952, through March 31, 1953. Follow this link to read about 1952 plates.
	1953 First D.C. plate to include a slogan. Used April 1, 1953, through Mar. 31, 1954. Follow this link to read about 1953 plates.
	1954 1953 plate validated with a tab to expire 3-31-55. Follow this link to read about 1954 plates.
	1955 Used April 1, 1955, through March 31, 1956. Follow this link to read about 1955 plates.
	1956 Used April 1, 1956, through March 31, 1957. Follow this link to read about 1956 plates.
	1957 Used April 1, 1957, through March 31, 1958. Follow this link to read about 1957 plates.
	1958 Used April 1, 1958, through March 31, 1959. Follow this link to read about 1958 plates.
	1959 Used April 1, 1959, through March 31, 1960. Follow this link to read about 1959 plates.
	1960 Used April 1, 1960, through March 31, 1961. Follow this link to read about 1960 plates.
	1961 Used April 1, 1961, through March 31, 1962. Follow this link to read about 1961 plates.
	1962 First reflectorized D.C. plate. Used April 1, 1962, through March 31, 1963. Follow this link to read about 1962 plates.
	1963 Used April 1, 1963, through March 31, 1964. Follow this link to read about 1963 plates.
	1964 Used April 1, 1964, through March 31, 1965. Two general-issue numbering configurations, as pictured, were used due to the supply of available numbers in the first (1A234) having been exhausted before the end of the registration year. Follow this link to read about 1964 plates.
	1965 First plate with WASHINGTON, D.C. Used April 1, 1965, through March 31, 1966. Follow this link to read about 1965 plates.
	1966 Used April 1, 1966, through March 31, 1968. Follow this link to read about 1966 plates.
	1967 1966 baseplate is validated with a sticker for the 1967 registration year, to expire 3-31-68. Follow this link to read about 1967 plates.
	1968 Used April 1, 1968, through March 31, 1975. Click here to reach a page dedicated to this base.
	1969 1968 baseplate is validated with a sticker placed in the upper right corner for the 1969 registration year, to expire 3-31-70. Click here to reach a page dedicated to this base.
	1970 1968 baseplate is validated with a sticker placed in the center (below the dash) for the 1970 registration year, to expire 3-31-71. Click here to reach a page dedicated to this base.
	1971 1968 baseplate is validated with a sticker placed in the center (above the dash) for the 1971 registration year, to expire 3-31-72. Click here to reach a page dedicated to this base.
	1972 1968 baseplate is validated with a sticker placed in the upper left corner for the 1972 registration year, to expire 3-31-73. Click here to reach a page dedicated to this base.
	1973 1968 baseplate is validated with a sticker placed in the lower left corner for the 1973 registration year, to expire 3-31-74. Click here to reach a page dedicated to this base.

Click here to read more about and view images of
all of the multi-year plates issued since 1965.

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Early Vehicle Registration in the U.S.

A variety of factors contributed to the need felt by local and state governments at the dawn of the twentieth century to tax and regulate the use of motor vehicles and their operators. In September 1893 the nation's first practical (by standards of the day) self-propelled machine was operated on the streets of Springfield, Mass., by Charles E. and J. Frank Duryea. Four years later, no less than four companies were organized for the purpose of producing motorized vehicles. Although these early cars were crude, often little more than the chassis and body of a horse-drawn buggy with an engine installed, within a decade cars were large and fast enough that they began to take a serious toll on roads designed for slower, more gentle traffic powered by oats rather than gasoline, steam, and electricity. Revenue needed to be raised to fund road maintenance and construction, and the increasing number of vehicles needed to be tracked. Registration was the answer, and license plates soon followed.

In April of 1901, New York became the first state to require that vehicles be registered, but motorists were required to make or otherwise procure their own markers. In 1903, a registration law took effect in Massachusetts that included the provision, by the state, of what were the nation's first uniform, state-issued license plates. Rhode Island became the second state to require registration and provide uniform plates, in 1904, and other states, mostly in the Northeast, followed in the ensuing years.

1903-1907: Registration Begins in Washington, D.C.

As occurred in many states, the earliest license plates used in the District of Columbia were provided by vehicle owners and took many forms, often leather pads with metal house numbers attached. In many cases the assigned number was simply painted directly on the vehicle. The only requirements as to the manner in which registration numbers were shown is that figures had to be at least 3” in height with a stroke of not less than 3/8”. Only the number was required to be displayed until Oct. 24, 1904, when an amendment to the city Automobile Board's regulations took effect requiring that “DC” also be included. Although there was no fee when registrations were first required in late August 1903, applicants had to appear before the Automobile Board in order that their competence could be ascertained.

The Automobile Board had been created in 1903 by the city's Board of Commissioners, members of which were appointed by the president to execute administrative matters of running the city's government. (In 1968 the Board of Commissioners was replaced by the current mayor and city council form of administration.) As is still the case today, in 1903 legal oversight of the District was vested in Congress. Under this system, both the House and Senate have committees that, through their power, facilitate day-to-day operations of city government.

Regulations adopted by operational-level panels, such as the Automobile Board, take effect after a mandatory Congressional review period. That period for the District's first vehicle registration regulations lapsed, apparently without Congressional comment, on August 29, 1903. The first registrations were then assigned based upon regulations that had been adopted by the Board of Commissioners on May 3, 1903.

Annual reports of the Automobile Board indicate that 2,463 vehicle registrations were issued during the period during which motorists were required to provide their own way of displaying their assigned number. This period covered four years, one month, and one day: from Aug. 29, 1903, through Sept. 30, 1907. During this period, no distinction, for purposes of registration, is known to have been made between vehicles of various types.

Whether the first number issued was 1 or 100 is unknown, but plate numbers up to approximately 600 are believed to have been assigned during the final 125 days of 1903. Numbers issued from the beginning of 1904 through the end of Sept. 1907 are as follows: 1904, c.600-994; 1905, 995-1510; 1906, 1511-2037, and 1907, 2038-2463.

1907-1917: The Porcelain Era

The curtain closed on the District's homemade plate era at the end of September 1907. Replacing the variety of owner-provided markers and numbers displayed in other fashions were uniform, white-on-black undated porcelain plates, issued singly, that were provided by the D.C. government and used for ten years. They were first issued on Oct. 8, 1907, and all holders of existing registrations received one during October. There are two distinct varieties of this plate, with more subtle differences existing in both styles. For purposes of this discussion, we refer to the earlier style as “type 1” and the later as “type 2.”

Type 1 plates are characterized by 1/2” lettering used for DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, which appears across the top of all 1907-1917 plates, whereas this feature on type 2 plates is displayed in much bolder 1” letters. (See example above.) The change in lettering style appeared on plates issued during mid-1914 at some as yet unidentified point between plates 19840 (small lettering) and 19968 (large lettering). All 1907-17 plates are 6” high, and all type 1 plates, as well as type 2 plates numbered up to 9999 are 10” wide. When a fifth digit was added in 1912 the width was increased to 12”, resulting in a plate identical in its dimensions to modern North American plates.

As for registration numbers, type 1 plates, manufactured by the Lamb & Tilden Co., of Washington, are numbered from 100 through 2500. Although not all later plates are marked as to their origin, at least some bear the maker's seals of prominent porcelain plate manufacturers Baltimore Enamel & Novelty Co., of Baltimore, Md., and Ingram-Richardson Co., of Beaver Falls, Pa. It is reported in the work cited in the following paragraph that Baltimore Enamel and Novelty likely made the majority of the post-Lamb and Tilden plates. Only a relatively small number, less than 2,000, can be directly associated with Ingram-Richardson.

Exactly which registration numbers were issued annually during this period is unknown, but a set of seemingly reliable estimates has been made. Much of our pre-1918 plate information comes from Nine Decades of Automobile Licensing in the Nation's Capital by early registration and plate historian Stephen J. Raiche, a former D.C. resident. In his 1994 work, the author writes that although early records are incomplete, “it is possible, however, to project a year-by-year breakdown of the numbers issued on the porcelain plates by carefully analyzing monthly registration totals and revenue collections reported in detail by the Automobile Board. The figures presented in the table below are presumed to be quite reliable since the highest tag known in a collection correlates within 1,000 numbers of the projected figure for the last issued plate. The totals below assume the lowest number to have been #100, and presume that all duplicate tags (i.e. replacements for lost or mutilated originals) would have received new numbers.”

1907	100-1541
1908	1542-2548
1909	2549-4343
1910	4344-6272
1911	6273-9289
1912	9290-12868
1913	12869-16862
1914	16863-24803
1915	24804-33668
1916	33669-45525
1917	45526-61395

Note that registration numbers listed above do not correlate to the number of vehicles in use at any single point in time. Vehicles were routinely removed from service or taken out of the District, resulting in assigned numbers no longer being used. The city's superintendent of licenses, who took over responsibility for the registration of vehicles during 1917, estimated at the end of that year (as 1907-17 plates were at the end of their useful lives) that approximately 25,000 vehicles were likely in use in the District at the time.

With the introduction of city-issue plates in late 1907, a $1 one-time registration fee was charged, presumably to cover the cost of the plate. These plates could legally be displayed only on the vehicle to which they were first assigned; that is, they could not be transferred to another vehicle or individual.

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	This page last updated on August 9, 2008
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