This pair of photographs, found in an antique store in Seattle, are among my favorite vintage photos featuring local cars. Not only do they prominently display a very early Washington For Hire license plate, but they record a small piece of everyday Seattle history.

The two high-resolution photos feature three men proudly posing with their shiny touring car, a Winton wearing a notable first-year-of-issue 1916 Washington For Hire license plate, and a backdrop showcasing a Seattle street scene rife with vintage ads. Ghirardelli’s Cocoa, Meadowbrook Dairy Company, a Famous Millinery (which one??).

The License Plate: For Hire

The car wears a 1916 Washington For Hire license plate, similar to the one pictured below.

The 1916 license plates, the first issued by the state of Washington, were valid from July 1915 to February 29, 1916, placing the likely date of these photos to sometime in late 1915.

For Hire license plates were issued, as one might assume, to automobiles for hire, such as taxis or private car services. The men posing in these photos may have run a for-hire automobile service.

This car’s license plate was notable for its immense size. The 1916 passenger vehicle issue was already exceedingly large; with the extra inch and a quarter of added height for the FOR HIRE, it became one of the largest license plates ever issued in the United States.

The 1916 license plates were the only year that spelled vehicle classes at the top (passenger vehicles, the standard class under which private cars were licensed, were vertically shorter and did not have a class legend).

The For Hire vehicle class generated some controversy that first year, because the state’s interpretation of the motor vehicle law placed hearses in the For Hire category. At least one period newspaper account highlighted the outrage from funeral directors at the crassness of printing “FOR HIRE” on their solemn vehicles, and reported that the state went so far as to remake plates with a FUNERAL CAR designation instead. None have been documented to exist (if you have evidence of a 1916 Washington Funeral Car license plate, please contact me!). The issue was quickly moot, however; starting in 1917, vehicle classes would be designated by a single letter code, with For Hire vehicles receiving a simple “A” to denote their registration class.

The Location

The distinctive triangular intersection and the “Denny Way” signage behind the car give enough clues to locate this photo at the corner of Denny Way and 5th Avenue (Google Streetview).

Less than half a century after these photos were taken, the legacy of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair would loom large over someone standing in the same spot. The monorail tracks overhead point right to a clear view of the Space Needle. Many of the buildings in the photo remain today.

A winter view with leaf-free trees confirms several of the background buildings still exist. While the Famous Millenery building has been replaced (the current structure dates to 1922, according to the King County tax assessor), the two buildings behind it on Cedar Street remain.

The Signs

Ghirardelli’s Cocoa looms large to the east of the car, but the rest of intersection is busy with signage as well.

The building on the west side of 5th Avenue displays a large ad for Meadowbrook Dairy Co, whose slogan, “Ice cream that’s good to eat,” probably isn’t the finest hour of the advertising profession (nor is the window blanking out a good portion of the sign).

Upstairs are ads for a Famous Millenery, offering “up to date styles,” but searching through newspapers and directories of the era yields little about the business. Fame is fleeting.

To the north on Denny Way is a block of businesses whose signs are blurry or obscured. An August 1915 newspaper ad provides clarity: from left to right, at 506 there is a grocery (“Bakery” appears in the window); at 508, Denny Way Auto Repair, and at 510, a meat market.

Those buildings’ days were numbered when the photo was taken; according to tax records, the current building on that site was built in 1919. But it’s still an auto repair shop.

Perhaps someday a license directory for 1916 For Hire vehicles will surface and the background of the people and their car will be known.