Below are the official records published annually by the Ontario government documenting the registered owner of each license plate. These small, passport-sized booklets were titled “List of Permits to Operate Motor Vehicles in Ontario” and were primarily intended for use by police for roadside enforcement.
As far as I know, Ontario published these books from approximately 1903 through 1915 and usually twice annually (May and September). By 1915, the number of registrations had grown dramatically, making the books increasingly difficult to compile and maintain. For example, the 1913 edition contains more than 400 pages of passenger vehicle registrations versus only 30 pages in the 1905 booklet. Another limitation was the time required to gather, compile, and print the information. As a result, registrations issued later in the year were often not captured, meaning the books were essentially out of date by the time they were published.
One of the most common questions I receive is: “Why are there so many out-of-province registrations in these books?” In particular, there are numerous entries from the United States.
Today, we take license plate reciprocity agreements for granted. These agreements allow motorists to travel between provinces or states using the registration and plates issued by their home jurisdiction. Visitors to Ontario can similarly operate their vehicles here without obtaining Ontario plates. Most of these reciprocity agreements for passenger vehicles were established around 1913.
Before these agreements were introduced, however, motorists generally had to obtain a license plate or permit from each province or state they intended to visit. This could mean purchasing one at the border or applying by mail in advance, particularly for anyone who travelled regularly between jurisdictions.
This requirement explains the non-Ontario addresses found throughout the registration books. An Ontario resident travelling regularly into a neighbouring province or state would likewise have been required to obtain that jurisdiction’s plate. As a result, it was not uncommon at the time to see vehicles carrying two or even three license plates when they were frequently travelling across provincial or international borders.
The shear size of the scanned booklet images is too large to publish on the web. Instead I’ve manually transcribed the books into open source spreadsheets so that the license plate collecting community may reference as need be. My intent is to share this important historical data with all. I’m hoping to expand this section as I’m able to find more annual additions. Thus far I’ve only been able to find copies of the years listed below. If you know of a copy – possibly in your own collection or for reference at a local library, please let me know!
Click this link for: 1903-04 Registrations (Passenger)
The 1903-1904 registrations were graciously donated by Joe Sallmen. The data was obtained from a previous collector that meticulously researched the historical documents in person when the Ministry of Transportation had a publicly accessible archives in Downsview (now permanently closed). At least 948 leather plates are known to have been made over this period, therefore the data is only partially complete with many missing records. Renewal and make of automobile information was also obtained for these records.
Click this link for: 1905 Registrations (Passenger, Dealer)
The 1905 registrations are courtesy of my own recently purchased copy. These registrations cover all rubber plates issued in 1905. The neat thing about this book is that it was published late in the registration year – September 1905, so it captured most of what was issued that year. The highest entry is #1625. Anything above this number would have been published in the 1906 to 1910 booklets. The 1905 booklet also included Dealer registrations which were assigned letters in alphabetical order on a first come first served basis. Only 14 dealer entries in 1905.
Click this link for: 1906 Registrations (Passenger, Dealer)
The 1906 registration records are courtesy of the Toronto Public Library Archives. I visited the archives in person and was permitted to photograph the booklet page by page. These records cover all rubber plates issued in 1905 and most of those issued in 1906, with the highest recorded entry being #1800. Any numbers above #1800 would have appeared in the 1907–1910 registration booklets.
The 1906 booklet also includes dealer registrations, which were assigned letters alphabetically on a first-come, first-served basis. All 14 dealers listed in the 1905 booklet renewed their registrations, meaning the four new dealers had to select from the remaining available letters.
I have also added a column to the spreadsheet, “Change from 1905?” (Column G), to indicate whether the plate changed ownership or the registered address changed from the 1905 record. The key is as follows:
- No — Same entry as 1905, with no change.
- Owner — The vehicle was sold and a new owner was listed, different from the 1905 entry.
- Address — The same owner remained registered, but the address changed.
- N/A – issued in 1906 — No 1905 entry; the plate was newly issued in 1906.
At the time, license plates remained with the vehicle when it was sold. They were also permanent registrations, remaining in use through the end of 1910 rather than being replaced annually.
You will also notice that Ontario issued plates in batches. As a result, some higher-numbered plates were issued in 1905 while lower numbers were still being issued in 1906. This most likely occurred because some issuing offices were quieter than others, particularly offices located near border crossings, where batches of plates may have been distributed and remained on hand for longer periods.
Click this link for: 1910 Registrations (Passenger, Motorcycle, Dealer)
The 1910 registration records were graciously donated by Joe Sallmen. Since rubber plates were permanent registrations—that is, they did not carry a year designation—they remained valid from 1905 through 1910 as long as the owner paid the annual renewal fee. The first column in the spreadsheet identifies plates that were renewed for 1910, indicated by an asterisk (*). Where an entry contains an asterisk, it is assumed that the ownership information would have remained the same as recorded in 1909. However, we have not yet located a 1909 registration booklet to confirm this with complete certainty.
As noted above, plates remained with the vehicle when it was sold, so there are changes in ownership between the 1906 and 1910 records. Once a 1907, 1908, or 1909 booklet is located, I should be able to better establish these ownership changes year over year, similar to the comparison I made for 1905 and 1906 above.
Any plate number shown as “No record” in 1910 was likely not renewed by the owner in either 1907, 1908 or 1909 and was therefore omitted from the 1910 publication. The highest recorded entry in the booklet is #8820, although a total of 9,738 plate pairs were eventually issued. The 1910 booklet also includes dealer and motorcycle registrations.
Click this link for: 1911 Registrations (Passenger, Motorcycle, Dealer)
The 1911 registration records are courtesy of the Toronto Public Library Archives. As was the case with the 1906 booklet above, I visited the archives in person and was permitted to photograph the booklet page by page.
1911 marked the beginning of Ontario’s annual license plate system. As a result, the previous registration and ownership records from the 1905–1910 rubber plate era were effectively purged, and the province started with a clean slate. The only exception was dealer registrations, which were permitted to retain their existing letters on the new 1911 porcelain plates. There was no carry-over of passenger plate numbers from 1910.
The surviving booklet covers approximately two-thirds of the porcelain plates issued in 1911, as it was published in May 1911. The highest recorded entry is #7530, although 11,386 plate pairs were ultimately issued that year. Eventually it would be great if we could locate the second 1911 edition, published in September, as this would allow us to identify additional plates numbered above #7530. The 1911 booklet also includes dealer and motorcycle registrations.
Click this link for: 1913 Registrations (Passenger, Motorcycle, Dealer, MC Dealer)
The 1913 registrations were graciously donated by John Duignan. John owns the 1913 book, passed down to him from his great-grandfather who was Clerk of the Surrogate Court for Halton County from 1912 to 1932. I visited John in person at his insurance office in Milton, spring 2023 and was allowed to photograph the booklet page by page – thank you! Reciprocity with neighbouring states must have started in early 1913 as the amount of out-of-province registrations is negligible when compared to the 1911 book. The neat thing about this book is that it was published late in the registration year – September. All other books I’ve seen have been published in May of a given year. The highest entry is #22693, while the highest known plate survivor seen to date is #23348. So almost all registrations have been captured in this book. The 1913 booklet also includes Dealer and Motorcycle registrations, and for the first time ever a rare Motorcycle Dealer plate was issued – 40 triples that began with “M”!