COLORADO

The earliest automobile registration in Colorado appears to have been in the city of Denver sometime in 1902.  From then until 1913, when the first state law was passed to require motor vehicle registration, over a dozen cities passed ordinances for license plates.  These local laws were invalidated when the 1913 state law became effective.

1913 Chapter 114, passed April 12, 1913, effective July 15, 1913, provided for annual registration with the Secretary of State, payment of fees of $2.50, $5 or $10 depending on horsepower, and $2 for motorcycles, and display of an annual state-issued rear plate.  The registration year was January 1 to December 1, and there was apparently no half-year rate in effect for 1913.  Non-residents were allowed 90 days before having to comply with the law.

The Secretary of State received the full shipment of 15,000 plates on July 14, 1913, just in time for issuance to begin the next day!  Blocks of numbers were assigned to each county, starting with Denver County, but the exact number assignments are not known except for the first numbers issued in El Paso County:  Passenger #8354, Dealer #14694, Motorcycle #1853.  Larimer County's first passenger number was #9965.

A separate table shows the breakdown of 1913 automobile registration totals by county for each of the state's 63 counties.  Colorado's newest county, Alamosa, registered 0 cars in 1913; the county had just been formed on March 8, 1913, from portions of Conejos and Costilla counties.  Dolores County also listed a total of 0, probably due to its remote location.

The registration figures and highest known plate numbers for 1913 are listed in the following table:

1913                      PASSENGER       DEALER

Registrations issued:        13,135         489

Plate numbers known:     #1 - 14357   #14489 - 15015  (527)

The county allocation system would account for higher passenger numbers being assigned than actual registrations would warrant.  As for Dealer plates, it appears each dealer was issued up to 5 registrations, so it's the actual plates, not dealerships, that were counted to reach the total of 489.  Again, county assignment would have resulted in numbers going higher than that, so the total of 527 is not surprising.

Most interesting of all, motorcycle plates were not issued by the state in 1913 or 1914 (and when they were in 1915, they were embossed steel, not porcelain like all other plates).  Motorcycle owners were assigned a number, which appeared on the license card, and then had to display this number on the rear of the motorcycle.  Thus, the pre-state era of owner-provided plates was not truly over in 1913!  The highest known motorcycle pre-state is #3280.  It is surmised that motorcycle owners were issued the same numbers in 1914 as they had been assigned in 1913, so that they wouldn't have to make new plates again.  Similarly, motorcycle dealers were required to register in the same manner as dealers, but it is believed that state-issued plates did not begin until 1915.

Visitors were allowed 90 days in the state as long as properly licensed in their home jurisdiction.  By the time the new law became effective on July 15, the 1913 summer tourist season was almost half over.  City licenses, particularly those that had already been issued by Colorado Springs, continued to suffice for the remainder of that season.  In 1914, Colorado Springs was still issuing visitor tags, although it is not clear under what authority.  Most likely no fee was charged, which resulted in no objection from the state.  The earliest Colorado Visitor plate known is 1915, with numbers verified up to #1273.  These were issued free of charge by the state.  Therefore, lacking direct substantiation from any source, we believe that issuance of state Visitor plates started in 1915 and not in 1914 or 1913, since cities were still issuing visitor tags.