Plates above listed as “State (event noted, general issue/specialty)”: Alaska (Alaska Purchase, general issue; Alaska Gold Rush, general issue); Arizona (statehood, specialty); Colorado (statehood, general issue; statehood, plain version*, general issue); Idaho (statehood, optional which became general issue); Indiana (George Rogers Clark expedition, general issue); Kansas (statehood, general issue, noted for two consecutive years; booster), Michigan (production of Duryea automobiles, optional), Minnesota (territorial establishment, general issue); Montana (statehood, general issue); Nebraska (statehood, general issue); Nevada (Las Vegas founding, specialty); New Mexico (statehood, optional); North Dakota (statehood, general issue; booster); Oklahoma (statehood, specialty); Oregon (Crater Lake, specialty); South Dakota (statehood, with and without optional “Celebrate the Century” sticker”); Utah (statehood, optional which became general issue, both versions); Washington (statehood, general issue); and Wyoming (statehood, general issue)
*near the end of the run, the state ran out of Centennial graphic plates, so issued a plain version to new registrants
California applied a temporary slogan, starting in 1998 and concluding in 2000, on the 1993 base; Illinois‘ somewhat curious method was to split the statehood year (1818) into two and place the halves in the upper corners, with no other mention of the event; Indiana designated “150TH YEAR”; Michigan’s sesquicentennial optional was issued only for vanities; Iowa offered two optional designs to commemorate 150 years; Minnesota and Nevada both offered pretty optionals; Ohio celebrated the first settlers’ arrival in the Northwest Territory with a graphic of an ox and wagon and abbreviated the terms; Oregon brought back a classic slogan to help pay homage to Oregon’s past; Texas included “SESQUICENTENNIAL,” a state map, and the years for the anniversary of the state’s declaration of independence, then issued a base plate for only two months (to new registrants, those who requested it and had plates older than five years, and those willing to pay an extra fee) to commemorate statehood; West Virginia released a fancy no-cost optional for it’s 150th year of statehood; and Wisconsin offered its Sesquicentennial optional for a period of two years.
Plates above listed as “State (event noted, general issue/specialty)”: Alabama (statehood, optional); Indiana (statehood, general issue); Louisiana (Louisiana Purchase, general issue; statehood, general issue; Battle of New Orleans, general issue); Maryland (War of 1812/writing of Star Spangled Banner, general issue); Missouri (statehood, general issue); Montana (Lewis & Clark expedition, specialty); Nebraska (statehood, general issue); North Dakota (Lewis & Clark expedition, specialty); Ohio (statehood, general issue); Pennsylvania (signing of the U.S. Constitution, optional); Tennessee (statehood, general issue); Virginia (George Washington Bicentennial, specialty).
Florida’s 400th anniversary plate celebrates the founding of St. Augustine, the oldest continually occupied European settlement in the United States. Virginia honored Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement, with a specialty featuring a large ship graphic, and a base plate which went through two revisions.
Florida reached way, way back to become the first state (and only one thus far) to put a 500th anniversary on a license plate. This specialty plate raised funds for a series of events and programs associated with the Columbus Quincentenary celebration.
