MINNESOTA

The first state law for the licensing of automobiles was 1903 Chapter 356, passed on April 21, 1903, and effective immediately.  It required automobile and motorcycle owners to obtain a license from the state boiler inspector in their county of residence, pay a $2 fee, and display their license number on an owner-provided rear plate with 4 1/2-inch-tall numbers.  It did not, however, apply to motor vehicle owners who were licensed and numbered by a municipality in the state.  Thus, local ordinances were allowed to continue through this period.  Fees were to be divided equally between the boiler inspector and the county treasurer.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on May 10, 1903, that "E. E. Steele, boiler inspector, has received the automobile license tags, and every owner of an automobile in the city will be compelled to patronize Mr. Steele to the extent of purchasing one tag.  He will start out Monday [May 11] with the blanks necessary to register the machines."  From this, it sounds as though plates were actually issued by the inspectors.

License #1 was issued on May 2, 1903, and numbers were assigned in blocks to each of the 83 counties then in existence.  For example, #1 - 300 were designated for Ramsey County (St. Paul), #401 - 999 for Hennepin County (Minneapolis), etc.  Numbers had reached 736 in Hennepin County by October 3, 1903, and the same plates were issued to motorcycles as needed.  Assessment rolls on May 1, 1904, recorded 966 automobiles in the state, 374 of them in Hennepin County.  The Star Tribune published a list of all Hennepin Co. automobile owners on March 13, 1905, which included numbers 401 to 967, 1201 to 1300 and 1501 to 1528.  A subsequent article on November 17, 1905, added numbers 1529 to 1733.  Although this system was changed in early 1906, licenses and plates issued in 1903-06 remained valid through mid-1909.  The highest pre-state plate known is #4047.

There were 83 counties in 1903.  The remaining four counties were added as follows:

      Koochiching (from Itasca)         December 19, 1906

      Mahnomen (from Becker and Norman) December 27, 1906

      Pennington (from Red Lake)        November 23, 1910

      Lake of the Woods (from Beltrami) November 28, 1922

A new law, apparently passed in the summer of 1905 and effective March 1, 1906, changed the licensing system in several ways.  The $2 fee was now paid to the city clerk of each municipality, and license numbers started at #1 in each city or town.  Rear plates were now owner-provided.  This system remained in effect until mid-1909, with 835 licenses issued in St. Paul from 1906 to 1909.  The confusion that resulted was staggering and eventually resulted in Minneapolis issuing their own city plates in 1908.

A lengthy article in the Minneapolis Journal from June 22, 1906, is worth repeating here due to the complexity of the problems.  There were no less than three headlines:  "BAD TANGLE NEAR IN AUTO NUMBERS," "NEXT WEEK THERE MAY BE MANY DUPLICATES" and "State Boiler Inspector's License Numbers Start at 400, and soon the City Clerk Will Begin Issuing Auto Licenses on the Same Number - Clash of Authorities the Cause."  The text appears below:

"There will soon be unlovely confusion in Minneapolis over automobile licenses.  Things are pretty well mixed already, but the conditions will soon be worse unless immediate steps are taken to straighten out the tangle.

Following the revised code, the city clerk is the only authority in the city who can issue automobile licenses.  To date he has issued 380.  Next week the numbers will go into the four hundreds, and then there will be a duplication of numbers, and then more or less confusion.  The automobile licenses for Minneapolis, issued by the state boiler inspector, began with No. 400, and as the city clerk does not recognize the old licenses, and will proceed to issue the new licenses in rotation, the same number will be carried by two different machines.

City Clerk L. A. Lydiard, acting on advice of City Attorney Frank Healy, has held that the licenses issued by the state boiler inspector are no longer in force and that new license must be secured.  Few of the auto owners in the city have complied with this ruling, but are retaining their old numbers.  They are sustained in this course by the attorney general of the state.  Before this official ruled that the revised code applied only to new machines, several automobile owners applied for municipal licenses, which cost them $2.  In view of the ruling of the attorney general they feel that they have been the victims of a sort of confidence game, and now they want their money back.  City Clerk Lydiard, having turned the money over to the city treasurer, declines to make a refund of the license fee until the courts have so commanded.

Thus several owners are legally entitled to two automobile licenses for the same machine.  This is too many, but the money involved is too small to warrant any of the owners making a test of the law."

The next state law, 1909 Chapter 259, was passed on April 19, 1909, effective May 15, 1909, and mandatory by June 14, 1909.  This law provided for annual motor vehicle registration with the Secretary of State, an annual $1.50 fee, and annual state-issued pairs of plates, including pairs for motorcycles.  In Section 8, however, only the rear plate was to be displayed.  Furthermore, in Section 10, in lieu of the rear plate, owners could use a tail light with the abbreviation "Minn.", the year date, and 4-inch-tall license numbers.  (The single vs. pair dilemma resulted in 1910 plates after #8000 being issued as singles only, and all 1911 plates as singles.)

The registration year was January 1 to December 31.  Non-residents were exempted from registration as long as they displayed their home plate.  Dealers and Manufacturers were charged $10 for the first pair of plates, and $1 for each additional extra plate desired.  Section 10 describes plates as having a "D" prefix for Dealers and an "M" prefix for Manufacturers.  However, it is believed that in 1909, all Manufacturers were issued "D" plates out of convenience.  The 1909 Dealer/Manufacturer number block range was #D300 - 499.

   1909                   PASSENGER   M/C   DEALER   MANUFACTURER

   Registration totals:     7,065      ?      79          3

   Highest plate known:     #6951    #830   #D341     (issued D)

The law providing for 3-year plates was 1911 Chapter 365, passed on April 20, 1911, and effective January 1, 1912.  The same $1.50 fee now lasted 3 years.  This law specified front and rear plates be displayed at all times.  Non-residents were now allowed 30 days before having to register.  Municipalities were prohibited from having ordinances licensing motor vehicles, except in the case of vehicles used for hire.