This 1916 photo of downtown Colfax presents a trifecta of interesting early Washington license plates: some nice examples of Washington’s huge first-year-of-issue license plate, traces of a somewhat less-than-conventional method of displaying a license number in the earliest years of the automobile, and a glimpse of the yearly license renewal process.  The latter feature also helps pinpoint the likely date of this photo.

All of the cars visible in this scene are wearing 1916 Washington license plates, the first year of issue and an exceptionally large and bold-colored one as well.  But right above the plate of the car in the foreground is a remnant of the original licensing process: the prestate era.  This was the period where vehicle owners were merely assigned a registration number and were left to their own devices as to how that number would be displayed.

This car’s owner, rather than sourcing a license plate out of leather, metal, or wood, took a more direct option and had the number, 33385, painted directly on the back of the car itself.  This person also adopted a more unconventional method of splitting the “WN” for Washington on either side of the number, instead of the more normal (boring?) method of placing WN before, or sometimes after the serial number.

The other cars in this scene also have some interesting items to offer: the second and fourth show cardboard temporary plates hung over their 1916 plates.  These temporary plates were issued by county auditors when motorists processed their yearly license renewal.  The cardboard plate was to be affixed to the vehicle while the license application was sent to Olympia for processing and mailing of the actual license plate for the upcoming year. The temporary licenses in this photo, while not completely legible, likely have text stating “1917” and “Whitman County,” in addition to the “WN” and the serial number.

The fact that two cars appear to already be in the process of obtaining their 1917 plates helps date this photo fairly precisely.

Until 1921, the auto licensing year in Washington lasted from March 1 to the final day of February, with the displayed date on the license plate indicating the expiration year.  The 1916-dated plates all expired on February 29, 1916.  By March 1, all vehicle owners were required by law to have submitted license applications for the 1917 licensing year, and Secretary of State I.M. Howell had announced through multiple newspaper reports that his office would accept license applications from county auditors starting Monday, February 7.  Given two of the four cars had begun the renewal process, this photo was likely taken in the second half of February, 1916.