TENNESSEE

City automobile ordinances have been documented in Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga prior to the first state registration law of 1905, but no pre-state plates are known from those cities other than an undated leather plate #96 with "MEMPHIS" at left.  Memphis was the earliest city to pass an ordinance requiring owner-provided license plates on September 23, 1903.

When the Secretary of State began issuing numbers on May 2, 1905, various automobile owners wrote letters to him requesting certain numbers.  One applicant wrote:  "May I have 164 for my number as I already have that attached to my car."  Amazingly, his request was granted!  It's likely he was already using #164 to comply with a licensing ordinance in one of the cities of the state, such as Memphis or Nashville, and wanted to keep his number to avoid the $2-3 cost of getting a new plate made, as well as personal attachment to his old number.  If the size and number height met the state's specifications, this plate could represent a rare example of a city pre-state plate turned into a state pre-state plate!

There are examples of pre-state plates which have local markings but are most likely state-issued numbers which the owner embellished with local place initials.  An undated leather plate #1819 (dating from 1909) is known with a letter "C" above "TENN", which is reported to stand for Chattanooga.  An undated white-on-black porcelain plate #5304 (of 1911 vintage) has "KNOXVILLE" vertically at left and "TENN" vertically at right.  Another undated plate, this one metal and in the style of Illinois 1912 plates, is #19690 and has "MEM" vertically at left and "TENN" vertically at right.  The fact that this number is much too high to be from that city only, and that a similar plate #15151 is known with only the "TENN" abbreviation vertically at right, indicates that it is a state pre-state.  Both of these numbers date from 1914.

There were early state laws providing for counties (but not cities) to license vehicles to various degrees or assess a privilege tax upon them.  Details of these laws are described on the Pre-state State page.  The counties and dates involved are as follows, but no tags are known:  Sullivan County (1911), Davidson County (1915), Lincoln County (1919).  Memphis (pop. 131,105) also issued a series of small porcelain tags, which were round in 1914 and 1915, and diamond-shaped in 1916 to 1920.  The earliest of these could be considered pre-states since they predate the state's 1915 plates issued presumably on July 1, 1915.  For example, the 1914 Memphis tag has the words "CITY PRIVILEGE AUTO TAX" and a serial number.  We don't know if a yet-undiscovered state law provided for the Memphis automobile tax like the above counties or if the county took it upon itself to tax automobiles.

Chattanooga (44,604)

According to The Horseless Age on December 14, 1904, "Chief of Police Hill has given strict orders to the police department to enforce city ordinance No. 1,204, which restricts the speed of automobiles on the streets and also requires owners to register cars in the auditor's office."

Memphis (131,105)

An automobile ordinance was passed September 23, 1903, effective immediately, requiring all owners of "Horseless Vehicles of all kinds" to register with the city.  No fee was mentioned.  Owner-provided rear license plates with numerals at least 3 inches tall were also required.  Non-residents were exempted as long as they didn't stay longer than 5 days in the city.

When J. K. Porter applied to the state to register his vehicle on May 12, 1905, he noted on his application that "My Memphis City License is No. 12."  Mr. Porter received state registration #139.  (State numbers began at #100, so #12 wasn't available.)

Nashville (110,364)

The Horseless Age reported on December 30, 1903, that an automobile license is required at $3 per year to operate in the city.  There was no mention of numbering or any other details yet.  Subsequent articles detailed the development of the next ordinance:  The September 7 issue reported that "The Power bill, requiring the numbering of all cars, came up for its third reading before the Common Council of Nashville, Tenn., on August 25.  As no provision was made for furnishing tags and numbers, it was referred to a committee for reconstruction."  A hearing for automobilists was scheduled on September 20, according to the October 28 issue.

A new ordinance providing for rear numbered tags was passed on October 27, 1904, and registrations began issuance that day with nine being issued.  The November 9, 1904, issue reported that "The new ordinance is now in force, and automobile owners have been notified to register their cars in compliance with it."  An article in The Tennessean on November 18, 1904, described plates to be issued by the local automobile club:  "Nashville automobilists probably do not know, all of them, that the time limit provided in the city ordinance requiring registered numbers to be attached to all automobiles expires Nov. 26.  J. C. Symmes, President of the Nashville Automobilists' Association...stated that he had received 100 of the regulation enameled number signs and is ready to disburse them."  The next day, a correction was made as follows:  "...Friday it was stated that J. C. Symmes had 100 automobile numbers to distribute.  Mr. Symmes has but fifty, which were furnished by G. C. Dury & Co., who will furnish the balance to those who need them."

The Tennessean reported on November 27, 1904, that 73 automobiles have registered with the recorder, numbers being assigned from #101 to 174.  On January 1, 1905, Motor Age stated that "A year ago Nashville had about twenty cars; today there are seventy-nine registered at the recorder's office, and it is probable several more have not yet received their numbers...The ordinance requiring numbers on cars met with no opposition."

Another article on April 29, 1908, mentioned that motorists were protesting the "Criswell ordinance, which required all automobiles to carry their registration numbers in figures 7 inches high..."  We assume this refers to state license numbers which were to be on plates of at least 7 inches in length, as numbers of that height would be highly unusual anywhere.