Here’s a visual history of Massachusetts license plates

BCOM

By Megan Turchi @meganturchi

June 16, 2015

1 minute to read

Massachusetts is the home of the first public school in America, the oldest American university, and was the first state to allow same-sex marriage.

It was also the first state to begin issuing registration license plates in 1903 (even though the city of Boston already required its residents to have a license and registration on their vehicles).

Frederick Tudor was the first man to get a plate, rewarding him with the elusive plate number one, which his family still has today, according to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Story continues after graphic.

The first license plates were dark blue with white numbers, were made out of iron and were not standardized in size, according to the RMV.

Colors reversed in 1908 and by 1916, iron plates were replaced with tin. By 1920, after the Department of Public Works was developed, Charlestown State Prison began making the plates.

At the end of the 1920s, conflict ensued. In 1928, Massachusetts issued a new plate that had a small fish on it with the word, “Mass.’’

The RMV website continues:

“The image, which resembled an oversized guppy more than a codfish, sparked controversy among local fishermen. After suffering one of the worst years in fishing history, the fishermen blamed the RMV for representing the cod swimming away from the word ‘Massachusetts’ which was printed on the plates.’’

In 1929, a more realistic codfish was put on the plate swimming toward the word “Mass.’’

Frederick Tudor with his number one license plate.

A few more iterations were in place in the ‘30s and ‘40s, including veterans’ plates, and by 1957, plates were standardized at 6 inches by 12 inches.

In 1987, the “Spirit of America’’ plates that you can see today began to be issued, according to the RMV.

More about the history of automobiles in Mass.:

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Correction: A previous verson of the graphic in this article had an incorrectly identified the colors for the license plates introduced in the late 1970s. They were white with green lettering.