Profile America

First License Plates


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APRIL 26: First License Plates 

Profile America — Tuesday, April 26th. Many automobile license plates proclaim glories of the issuing states. Others spell out something dear to the drivers but indecipherable 

to anyone else. Those plates, and the more basic ones are requirements to drive on public roads. New York was the first state to require license plates on motor vehicles late this month in 1901. At the time, there were fewer than 15,000 sputtering automobiles in the entire country, traveling over muddy, rudimentary roads without a license for the driver or the automobile. Now, there are around 276-million cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles in the nation, all sporting license plates. The nation’s 46,500 car dealers issue temporary tags with sales, which even in the pandemic year totaled 14.5 million new light vehicles. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.


Sources:

Joseph Nathan Kane, Kane’s Famous First Facts, Fifth Edition, H.W. Wilson Co., New York, NY 1997, #4220.

Vehicles in early 20th century: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 716 [3 MB]

Motor vehicles today, accessed 8/31/2021 [3MB]

Motor vehicles today, accessed 8/31/2021 [3 MB]

Automobile dealers, County Business Patterns, NAICS 4411

New car sales, accessed 10/30/2020

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Profile AmericaBy U.S. Census Bureau