The History of Texas License Plates - Part II

By Rod Hemmick
Special Contributing Author
for Motorheads Performance

Part II – The “pre-state” era August 1907 thru June 1917

Since it was the vehicle owner’s responsibility to display the registration number on his vehicle, a wide variety of means were used to achieve this end. It is conceivable that many types of homemade license plates were created and some very interesting types have survived to this day. Some owners simply just painted the registration numbers directly on their vehicles.

The following represents a listing of some of the types of Texas pre-state license plates that have survived to this day:

1. Hand painted numbers on a leather pad.
2. Aluminum or Brass numbers attached to a leather pad
       (some had a metal frame and solid metal backing)
3. Aluminum or Brass numbers attached to a metal plate.
4. Leather numbers stitched to a leather pad.
5. Hand painted numbers on a wooden plate or shingle.
6. Aluminum or Brass numbers on a wooden plate
       (some had metal frames).
7. Numbers stenciled on a heavy gauge tin plate.
8. Porcelain “kit type” plates.
9. Metal “kit type” plates.

The type of porcelain license plates that were manufactured in some other states consisting of a single porcelain surface on a metal plate (similar to a porcelain sign) were never produced in Texas.

METAL NUMBERS ON LEATHER PAD WITH CLIPS ON TOP Many of the leather plates were most likely made by the local saddle shop or blacksmith. Large aluminum numbers (most likely house numbers) were attached by means of rivets or spread-type metal cotter pins. As these leather plates became more popular, manufactured versions began to appear in stores.

METAL NUMBERS ON WOODEN PLATE WITH METAL FRAME
Many featured an iron frame stitched inside the edge of the plate with two clips at the top of the plate for attaching to the vehicle.

METAL NUMBERS ON METAL PLATE For the most part these license plates carried only the vehicle registration number, but a few examples have survived with the city or county names or “TEXAS” also affixed to the plate along with the registration number.

This practice of displaying a city or county name or “TEXAS” on the license plate along with the registration number became much more widespread with the introduction of “kit type” license plates.

“Kit type” license plates were “store bought” license plates which featured a rack containing all the numbers and a metal frame to attach the numbers to, thus allowing a vehicle owner to make their own license plate in a kit form. It was not uncommon for city, county and “TEXAS” inserts to be available along with the numbers so a vehicle owner could display their city or county on their license plate, or identify their license plate as a Texas license plate, if so desired.

There were two types of these “kit type” license plates available to Texas motorists. One of the “kit type” license plates consisted of a metal frame into which white-on-blue porcelain inserts were installed. A vehicle owner could purchase porcelain inserts with their city or county name or an insert with “TEXAS” on it which could be included with their registration number.

PRE-STATE PORCELAIN KIT TYPE These porcelain “kit type” license plates were manufactured by the Stafford Illuminated Auto Lamp and Number Company of Chicago, Illinois. Many of these plates have a patent date of the back while others read only “Patent Pending”. The earliest verified patent date is February 14, 1911.

A second “kit type” license plate featured a metal base to which metal numbers (with tabs on them) were fastened. The metal bases were painted black and the numbers were painted silver. An oval nameplate with tabs was also available which was painted black with the city name or TEXAS stenciled in silver.

PRE-STATE METAL KIT TYPEThis very interesting “pre-state” period for the issuance of license plates in the State of Texas ended on June 30, 1917 with the beginning of “State issued” license plates on July 1, 1917.

The early part of this “state issued” period for the registration of license plates in Texas will be the subject of a future article.