- An enterprising car dealer named BS Clark published a pocket-sized car directory, Who It Is, until his death in 1927.
- Fewer than 2,000 cars were registered in 1906, and they belonged to politicians, doctors, businessmen, and Gilded Age figures.
Rhode Islanders’ fascination with low-numbered license plates dates back to 1904, when the General Assembly first began requiring car owners to register their cars.
At that time, owning a car was a luxury reserved for the elite and completely out of reach for most people. But for just 15 cents, you could buy a pocket-sized directory that lets you search for any license plate and see who’s driving it.
This guide, simply titled “Who It Is,” later became known as the Rhode Island Automobile Directory and was published until the 1920s.
Extant copies are very difficult to find today, but the Providence Journal recently obtained a copy published in August 1906. Here are some of the highlights.
Who got Rhode Island’s first 10 license plates?
In 1906, all license plates were low number license plates. He had only 1,908 cars registered in the entire state.
The lowest numbers were not necessarily held by the state’s most powerful politicians, but rather by other prominent figures such as doctors and businessmen. Here’s what we know about the people who had plates numbered 1 through 10.
Plate No. 1: Roland R. Robinson, Wakefield.
As any local license plate enthusiast knows, passenger plate No. 1 was assigned not to the governor, but to Robinson, a country doctor who was one of the first people in the state to own a car. He reportedly got the plate because his brother was a state senator, but the exact details of the story are disputed.
According to one report, Sen. Benjamin Robinson was provided with the plates, but since he didn’t have his own car, he gave them to his brother. Another theory is that the state senator threatened to vote against the car tax bill unless his brother received the first plate issued.
Plate No. 2: J.C. Tucker, Narragansett Pier.
According to the Independent, Mr. Tucker was a businessman and owner of the Narragansett Pier Company. According to local history, he ran a hardware and building supply company and was also responsible for the construction of Atwood His House, a large hotel on Ocean Road that was demolished in the 1960s.
Plate No. 3: Richard S. Howland, Asheville, North Carolina.
Howland served as editor-in-chief of the Providence Journal and Evening Bulletin before moving to Asheville, where he owned the Asheville Citizen newspaper and entered the railroad business. He also served as a director of the Providence Industrial Trust Company.
Plate Number 4: J. Fred Gibson, 341 Broadway, Providence.
According to his 1933 obituary, Gibson was a candy manufacturer and owned a drug store chain with lunch counter service. He also served in the Rhode Island House of Representatives as a Republican in 1905 and 1906.
Plate No. 5 and 6: Alvin H. Eccleston, Broad Street, Providence.
According to a 1910 obituary in the Evening Bulletin, Eccleston was one of Rhode Island’s most prominent surgeons and a high-ranking Mason. Before he moved to Providence, he served on the Richmond City Council. Sadly, he died in a crash that occurred while sitting in his towed vehicle.
Plate Number 7: Arthur A. Rhodes, 2127 Broad St., Edgewood.
Rose comes from a family whose history in Cranston dates back to the American Revolution. He and his two brothers ran the Rose’s at the Portuxet Dance Hall. A Republican, he served as mayor of Cranston from 1920 until 1928.
Plate Number 8: Henry A. Carpenter, 272 W. Exchange St., Providence.
Mr. Carpenter was a director and manager of the General Fire Extinguisher Company and “one of Providence’s most widely known businessmen,” according to his obituary in the Providence Journal. He served on the Providence City Council from 1905 to 1907 and later became president of the Providence Chamber of Commerce.
Plate No. 9: Henry O. Potter, 4 South Water St., Providence.
Potter was one of the directors of Remington & Sons Cotton Brokers. Eventually, he gave his plates to business partner Edward R. Trowbridge because he “didn’t like driving novelty things,” Trowbridge’s grandson wrote in the Journal in 1981. told.
Plate No. 10: Benjamin P. Moulton, Box 1220, Providence.
Moulton served as Providence’s police chief from 1914 to 1930 and also served on the City Council. He received his license plate because he was 10th in line on the first day of car registration, his grandson told the Journal in 1981.
All of the first ten license plates were issued to men, but some wealthy women had their own cars. The first woman to appear in the 1906 directory is Beulah Mae Nordlinger, who lived at 47 Adelphi Avenue in Providence and drove the number 27 Waverly.
Prominent politicians and Gilded Age heirs were among the first to register their cars.
The 1906 automobile directory was dominated by a prominent Yankee family. There are many well-known surnames such as Tillinghast, Sayles, Hoxie, Burlingame, Metcalf, Olney, and Kenyon. Joseph Paolino, of 138 Knight Street, Providence, owns a Cadillac with license plate number 671 and is one of the only Italian-Americans on the list.
Although the list included many senior politicians, they did not necessarily hold the most coveted plates. Governor Elisha Dyer Jr. had plate number 1745, while Senator Nelson W. Aldrich had plate number 1853. Henry F. Lippitt, Aldrich’s successor in the Senate, had plate numbers 23 and 24.
Prominent figures from Newport’s Gilded Age also appear in this slim volume. Teresa Alice “Tessie” Allrichs, heir to the Comstock Lode fortune that built Rosecliff, owned plate number 638. Plate number 1110 belonged to Maud AK Wetmore, an heiress, preservationist, and prominent Republican who lived at Chateau-sur-Mer.
And, naturally, this pocket-sized directory also served as a “who’s who” for businessmen and factory owners of the fin de siècle.
Charles J. Daboll, president of Daboll Rubber Company, had plate number 90. Malcolm G. Chase, a textile mill owner who played a key role in bringing electricity to New England, had plate number 604. and Samuel P. Colt, who founded the US Rubber Company, had plate number 1187.
The owners of Bristol’s Herreshoff Manufacturing Company registered an unusually large number of cars. Nathanael G. Herreshoff owned numbers 488 and 1081, and John B. Herreshoff owned numbers 489, 490, 910, 1090, 1206 and 1411.
Although they are admired today for their elegant yacht designs, the brothers also built hundreds of steam and power yachts, including torpedo boats for the U.S. Navy, said Evelyn Ansell, curator of the Herreshoff Maritime Museum. he points out. They are interested in keeping up with the “latest and greatest” technology, which may explain their fascination with cars.
more:Why do Rhode Islanders prefer lower-numbered license plates? Here’s what we found
Why the Automotive Directory was discontinued and where you can now get a copy
Who It Is was published by Benjamin S. Clark. He was a used car dealer and early car enthusiast, also known as BS Clark, and is believed to have been one of the first people arrested for speeding in Rhode Island in 1901.
The Journal reported in 1933 that for the first few years after Rhode Island required vehicle registration, Clark’s store was the only place to obtain a license plate. Since the Registry of Motor Vehicles, these plates have been issued by the State Highway Commission. Later the automobile department was not established.
Clark died in 1927, after which Who It Is appears to have ceased publication. By that time, more than 30,000 of his cars were registered in Rhode Island, making the directory increasingly unwieldy.
These days, it’s very hard to come by unless you’re lucky enough to find one on eBay for $5, like this reporter did.
The University of Rhode Island has an undated copy believed to date from the 1920s, which has been scanned and is now available online at digitalcommons.uri.edu/sc_pubs/35. A 1912 copy can also be found in the Providence City Archives.
Do you have a license plate that your family has had since 1906? Feel free to contact us at afarzan@providencejournal.com. I’ll look for it.