Enjoy a ride in a Kissel Kar with 1910 Massachusetts plates. Image credit Whitman Studio, via the Library of Congress.
Cars in the United States were governed by some laws in the early years of the 20th century, and the ones on the books were, at best, loosely enforced. Tired of breaking the 15 mile per hour speed limit near his estate summer scofflaws, Boston businessman Henry Lee Higginson (founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) formulated a plan that eventually lead to the creation of the modern license plate would.
To be clear, preceded New York Higginson of home state of Massachusetts require license plates for motor vehicles. New York, however also requires motorists to have their own license plates, generally with the initials of the owner of the vehicle for identification. The system was haphazard at best, and it is unlikely that cars with homemade license registration plates easy to their owners were tied.
In 1892, a "Commission of inquiry" created to study the State of roads in Massachusetts. His conclusion would ring true today, but also resonate with the u.s. Interstate highway system, who has driven in the past ten years: roads were in poor condition, and would drop their stands alone as traffic volume increased. The finding that led to the creation of the Massachusetts Highway Commission in 1893, charged with improving the State of the roads within the Commonwealth. With its mission defined, the next obstacle was funding; While no one claimed that the roads need to fix, no one knew where that funding would come from.
Enter Higginson. As a result, by speeders and careless drivers Higginson compiled a 1903 petition urges the establishment of licensing for vehicles and drivers. As a man with friends in high places, Higginson the petition soon led to the creation of a "car Division" within the State, creating and performing a license plan for motorists in Massachusetts will be charged. A fee of $ 2 would be assessed on the registration of vehicles, and in return the Commonwealth would issue a license plate state-produced car with driver. The first Massachusetts plates were built of cast iron, enamelled with a blue background and a white number.
In the early days of licenses, only numbers are used on license plates. With a low number that the motorist an early adopter of the carriage drive and so probably was from a prominent family. In the case of Massachusetts, was the first ever number plate, bearing the number ' 1 ' issued to Frederick Tudor of Brookline. Coincidentally, Tudor was also an employee of the highway, and by accident of birth, the cousin of Henry Lee Higginson. It is said to be a descendant of Tudor still possesses the Massachusetts 1 license plate, which some still view as the ultimate car accessory item.
Licensing was implemented in Massachusetts in June 1903, and commissioned by September of the same year. By the end of 1903 amassed Massachusetts nearly $ 18,000 in registration fees, the equivalent of almost $ 500,000 in 2013. Municipalities also enjoyed a spike in revenue from motor vehicle fines, although the exact amount would be impossible to define.
Had Henry Lee Higginson 1903 missive titled "a petition relative to cars and operational licenses the same" never drawn up, someone else would certainly have come together with the idea (which, incidentally, had taken for carriages in Victoria, Canada, in 1884). Still, the next time red and blue flashes appear in the rearview mirror, feel free to pin the blame for the points and fine square on Higginson and his determination to bring to motor vehicle chaos.
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