Ohio began automobile registration and state-issued plates in 1908.  Anniversaries celebrating the formation of the North West Territory in 1788 and statehood in 1803 were noted on plates issued in 1938, 1953 and 2001-04, with the 1938 plate depicting an ox pulling a covered wagon.  A prison riot and fire in late 1966 resulted in several die varieties on 1966-69 plates, some of which had to be made out-of-state.  The earliest of the five currently valid base plates began issue in 1996.