I was putting a fresh pad of checks into my checkbook the other day when an age-yellowed card dropped out and reminded me of something a lot of Hoosiers have forgotten or never knew.
Indiana’s passenger car license plate numbering system is pretty straightforward, making it easy to tell where a car was plated. The first digit or digits correspond with the issuing county’s name in an alphabetical list of Indiana’s 92 counties.
Adams County plates are 1A, 1B, and so on, while Whitley County – the 92nd in the list, starts with 92A. Since there are more cars in Lake and Marion counties than the 45 and 49 prefixes can accommodate, there’s an overrun with Lake County getting 94 and 96 and Marion County taking 93, 95, 97 98 and 99.
Of course things get more ambiguous when it comes to specialty plates because they don’t indicate county of origin.
But for the most part, it’s a logical, understandable system.
Not so before 1963.
Which brings me to that card that fell out of my checkbook.
It’s a little pocket reference to Indiana license plate prefixes, published by Robert Hall’s IGA Foodliner in my hometown of Delphi circa 1961.
Look over the listings and you’ll realize immediately why there had to be a change.
The old system used double-letter prefixes that were assigned without any particular rhyme or reason, other than the fact that Marion County being the most populous got all of the “A” prefixes. After that, it was pretty much random.
Old timers around here will recall that Montgomery County plates had TA and TB prefixes. Neighboring Fountain County was XJ, XK and XL, while Boone County drivers got to laugh it up with HA and HB. No correlation with county or county seat names, population or alphabetical sequence.
Here is the pre-1963 Indiana license plate prefix scheme, courtesy of the late Bob Hall:
AA, AB, AC, AD, AE, AF, AG, AH, AJ, AK AL, AM AN, AP, AQ, AR, AS, AT, AU, AV, AW, AX, AY, AZ, BX, BY, BZ - Marion County (Indianapolis)
BB, BC, BD, BE, BF, BG, BH, BJ, BK, BL – St. Joseph (South Bend)
CA, CB, CC, CD, CE, CF, CG, CH, CJ, CK, CL, CM, CN, CQ, CR, CS, CT, CU – Lake (Crown Point)
DA, DB – Whitley (Columbia City)
DC – Tipton (Tipton)
DD, DE, DF, DG, DH, DJ, DK, DL – Allen (Fort Wayne)
EA, EB, EC – Hendricks (Danville)
ED – Union (Liberty)
EE, EF, EG, EH, EK, EL, EM – Vanderburgh (Evansville)
EJ – Jefferson (Madison)
FA, FB – Clay (Brazil)
FC, FD – Vermillion (Newport)
FF, FG, FH, FJ, FK, FL – Madison (Anderson)
FM – Martin (Shoals)
GB, GC – Wells (Bluffton)
GD – Switzerland (Vevay)
GF – Jasper (Rensselaer)
GG, GH, GJ, GK, GL, GM – Elkhart (Goshen)
HA, HB – Boone (Lebanon)
HC, HD – Posey (Mt. Vernon)
HE – Warren (Williamsport)
HH, HJ, HK, HL, HM – Vigo (Terre Haute)
JA, JB, JC – Adams (Decatur)
JD – Scott (Decatur)
JF – Warrick (Booneville)
JJ, JK, JL, JM – Delaware (Muncie)
KA, KB, KC – Johnson (Franklin)
KJ, KK, KL, KM – Wayne (Richmond)
LA, LB – Jay (Portland)
LC – Decatur (Greensburg)
LD – Jennings (Vernon)
LL, LM, LN, LP – LaPorte (LaPorte)
MA, MB, MC – Greene (Bloomfield)
ME, MF – Newton (Kentland)
MG – White (Monticello)
MM, MN, MP – Tippecanoe (Lafayette)
NA, NB – Gibson (Princeton)
NC – Putnam (Greencastle)
ND, NE, NF – Benton (Fowler)
NN, NP, NR – Grant (Marion)
PA, PB, PC – Noble (Albion)
PF – Dubois (Jasper)
PP, PW, PZ – Howard (Kokomo)
PY – Perry (Cannelton)
QA, QB, QE – Lawrence (Bedford)
QC – Carroll (Delphi)
QD – Pike (Petersburg)
QP, QQ, QR, QS – Henry (New Castle)
RA, RB, RC – Shelby (Shelbyville)
RD – Pulaski (Winamac)
RN – Owen (Spencer)
RR, RS – Kosciusko (Warsaw)
SA, SB, SF – Hamilton (Noblesville)
SC, SD – Ripley (Versailles)
SE – Orange (Paoli)
SG, SH – Dearborn (Lawrenceburg)
SJ, SK, SL – Jackson (Brownstown)
SP – Spencer (Rockport)
SS, ST – Cass (Logansport)
SU – Steuben (Angola)
TA, TB – Montgomery (Crawfordsville)
TC – Fulton (Rochester)
TD – Franklin (Brookville)
TT, TU, TW – Knox (Vincennes)
UA, UB, UC – DeKalb (Auburn)
UD – Hancock (Greenfield)
UE – Parke (Rockville)
UT, UU, UV – Huntington (Huntington)
VA, VB – Wabash (Wabash)
VE, VF – Rush (Rushville)
VK, VL – Starke (Knox)
VV, VW – Monroe (Bloomington)
WA, WB – Clark (Jeffersonville)
WD – Washington (Salem)
WF, WG – Morgan (Martinsville)
WW, WX – Floyd (New Albany)
XA, XB – Clinton (Frankfort)
XD – Harrison (Corydon)
XE – Ohio (Rising Sun)
XG, XH – Daviess (Washington)
XJ, XK, XL – Fountain (Covington)
XX, XY – Porter (Valparaiso)
YA, YB – Marshall (Plymouth)
YD - Lagrange (Lagrange)
YE – Brown (Nashville)
YF, YG, YH – Sullivan (Sullivan)
YX, YY, YZ – Randolph (Winchester)
ZA, ZB, ZF – Bartholomew (Columbus)
ZC – Fayette (Connersville)
ZD, ZE – Blackford (Hartford City)
ZG – Crawford (English)
ZX, ZY – Miami (Peru)
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