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Oklahoma Archive
TOTAL KNOWN PORCELAIN VARIETIES: 56
Oklahoma is a particularly fascinating state when it comes to the issuance of
porcelain license plates. Much like Kansas, Louisiana, and Florida, the plethora
of porcelain issues known from Oklahoma is due entirely to local jurisdictions
choosing to issue plates, as the state itself never produced porcelain plates of
any kind.
I: PRE-STATES / CITY & COUNTY PLATES
Few people would believe that there are 53 different known Oklahoma porcelains
from 24 different cities, and that the number is rising every year as more and
more plates are dug up or re-discovered. Most Oklahoma porcelains known are
presumed to be passenger issues, but there are a few non-passenger plates
which have surfaced, including motorcycle plates from both Dewey and Tulsa, as
well as livery plates from Tulsa and Bartlesville.
The era of porcelain plates from the state of Oklahoma falls in the pre-state
period between 1910 and 1915, when the state finally came out with an embossed
metal issue as its first standardized plate. Once the state began the issuance of
plates, the era of locally-issued plates came to an end. The earliest known issue
is an undated Tulsa plate, dating to approximately 1910. The latest was the last of
three porcelain issues from Bartlesville, which is dated 1915-1916, but probably
was discontinued half way through its intended life span.
When looking at the cities that issued plates in Oklahoma, a pattern emerges
showing that the cities are clustered together in a few regions of the state.
However, these regions don’t necessarily make any sense. Three main clusters
of cities known to have issued porcelain plates emerge – one in the Northeast,
the second on a main road down the center of the state, and a third in the South
Central West portion of the state. The Northeastern region centers around the
city of Tulsa, which was the second largest in the state at the time. The railroad
route south of Tulsa, for instance, has both Sapulpa and Okmulgee on it.
Similarly, the North-South railroad route just East of Tulsa coming in from Kansas
has the cities of Muskogee, Nowata, and Wagoner on it. The second region is the
main railroad line down the center of the state, along which the cities of
Kingfisher, El Reno, and Chickasha lie. West of Chikasha is another main railroad
line which comprises the third general cluster of cities from which porcelains are
known, including Anadarko, Hobart, and Mangum, as well as Cordell just slightly
North.
Clearly, the railroad routes are a primary indicator of which cities were meaningful
enough to have considered the issuance of porcelain license plates. However,
there are huge regions of the state from which we know of no porcelain plates.
Even relatively populous cities which fall outside of one of the clusters never
issued porcelain plates to our knowledge – cities such as McAlester and Guthrie,
both of which had populations of approximately 12,000, as well as Enid with some
16,000 people, are examples. The pattern perhaps suggests that a porcelain
salesperson traveled down a few very specific main roads in the early teens,
convincing the powers-that-be in various cities to spend their revenue on
porcelain plates. And yet, it is not only the wealthy or populous areas that seem
to have agreed. Indeed, porcelain plates are known from some extremely small
cities, such as Anadarko, Bigheart, Mangum, and Kingfisher, which only had
populations of two or three thousand. The populations of these cities hardly
warrant the issuance of expensive porcelain license plates. One possible
explanation lies in the fact that virtually every single one of the cities from which
porcelain plates are known were county seats. These cities perhaps got more
revenue from the state to spend on license plates, and perhaps felt that a well-
crafted, attractive porcelain plate helped advertise the significance of their
respective counties.
In spite of where they were issued, however, one of the defining characteristics
of Oklahoma porcelains is their sheer rarity. Of the 53 known varieties, there are
five or fewer surviving examples known for all but five, and 27 of these are totally
unique. The most common plates, not surprisingly, come from Tulsa’s six year run
between 1910 and 1915. Numerous dug plates are also known from Shawnee.
Beyond these exceptions, however, Oklahoma porcelains are exceedingly rare.
ANADARKO
Anadarko, the county seat of Caddo County, lies along the south bank of the
Washita River in the south-central portion of the county. It is situated eighteen
miles west of Chickasha. The town acquired its name from the Nadarko (Nadaco)
Indians. When land was opened for White settlement, lotteries were held for
homesteads, and town lots were auctioned. Approximately five thousand
prospective buyers were living in what was called "Rag Town" on the east edge
of Anadarko by 1901, when the land was auctioned. Although some twenty
thousand were present for opening day, the population dwindled to just over
2,000 in 1907. The census figures rose to about 3,500 by 1910, where it remained
throughout the pre-state license plate era. The fertile Washita River valley was
good for both crops and livestock, and agriculture was the town's economic
mainstay. There is a single surviving example of a porcelain license plate from
Anadarko - an undated issue with fancy numerals characteristic of the Bartlesville
plates of the same era.
BARTLESVILLE
Bartlesville was named for Jacob Bartles, a Civil War veteran who saw
opportunity in Indian Territory. His general store and marriage into the local
Native American community allowed him to be a business owner in Indian
Territory. Other entrepreneurs followed, and in 1897, the town was officially
incorporated. That same year, Bartlesville became the site for the first
commercial oil well in what is now the state of Oklahoma. Within 20 years, the
area became home to some of the nation's top oil companies. Situated North of
Tulsa, Bartlesville was a city of about 14,000 in Oklahoma's pre-state era. The
city's four plates between 1912 and 1916 distinguish Bartlesville as having the
most different varieties of porcelains produced by any Oklahoma city other than
Tulsa. A repainted 1912 livery plate is known - one of very few porcelain non-
passengers - although the original colors are in dispute. The 1915-16 plate, the
last of the city's three annual passenger plates, is notable for bearing the latest
date of any Oklahoma porcelain - 1916. However, this plate was probably used
only for a relatively short period of time in 1915 before being replaced by the
state issue once it became available. Even though there are four known plates
from Bartlesville, they remain quite rare, with fewer than a dozen total plates
from all years combined currently known in collectors' hands.
BIGHEART
In the rich oilfields about forty miles north of Tulsa sits the town of Barnsdall.
Originally named Bigheart for Osage Chief James Bigheart, the community was
officially renamed in honor of Theodore N. Barnsdall and his Barnsdall Oil
Company in 1922. Bigheart began as a 160-acre townsite along the Midland Valley
Railway in 1905. Surveyed and platted, land lots were auctioned in 1906.
Businesses and residences quickly sprang up. Joshua S. Cosden built the
Southwestern Refining Company at Bigheart around 1910, which brought further
prosperity to the tiny town. Bigheart's population increased from 307 in 1910 to a
high of just over 2,000 in 1920. In the pre-state era, there were probably about
1,500 residents in the town. A single Bigheart porcelain is known to document
the city's early issuance of license plates.
BROKEN ARROW
In the early 20th century, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway company built a
railroad which ran through the area of present day Broken Arrow in Northeastern
Oklahoma. The railroad was granted town site privileges along the route and sold
three of the as-yet-unnamed sites in 1902 to the Arkansas Valley Town Site
company. The secretary of that company named one of these sites Broken Arrow
in honor of an early Native American community in the area of the same name.
The MKT railroad, which ran throught the middle of the city, still exists today and
is now owned by Union Pacific. For the first decades of Broken Arrow's history,
the town was based mainly on agriculture, and the city grew quite slowly during
the first half of the 1900s. In fact, Broken Arrow had fewer than 2,000 residents
when plates were issued there. The only known surviving example is a dated
1914 issue.
CHICKASHA
Strategically located at the intersection of North-South and East-West railways
Southwest of Oklahoma city, Chickasha is known to have issued plates from 1912
through 1915. 1914 was the earliest known example for many years until 2009
when an advertising campaign unearthed the first and only known 1913 plate.
Then in 2012, a previously unrecorded 1912 plate surfaced in the collection of the
Chickasha Antique Auto Club. Interestingly, there are two dated 1914 plates of
entirely different color schemes. The reason for this difference is unknown - it
could be a weight class difference, or perhaps the difference between a
passenger issue and a vehicle for hire. Such differences are not unheard of - for
other examples, please see the Unexplained Mysteries gallery. There are
approximately a dozen total plates known from Chickasha.
COLLINSVILLE
The town of Collinsville was incorporated in 1899. That summer, the Santa Fe
Railroad was built, bringing singnificant prominence to the fledgling city. In the
early 1900s, natural gas was discovered near Collinsville. Then one of the largest
brick plants in the state was established when the Coffeyville Vitrified Brick & Tile
Company came to town in 1908. The plant employed 40 to 50 men at full capacity
and shipped its bricks all over the United States. It was bricks from this plant that
were used to pave the main streets of Collinsville in 1913. Another early boom
for Collinsville came with the smelter industry. The Prime Western and
Bartlesville Zinc smelters came to town, bringing in many more people to live and
work in Collinsville. In these early boom days, the town's population was
aproximately 8,000. Like so many other small Oklahoma cities, there is one lone
survivor proving that the town dabbled with porcelain license plates - in this case
a dated 1915 issue.
CORDELL
In 1892, some 5,000 settlers raced into what would become Washita County to
stake claims to homesteads. Soon afterwards, Cordell sprang up as a center of
housing and commerce. Cordell won a hard-fought battle to land the Bes Line
Railroad in 1902, which made a significant contribution to the city's growing
prominence. The public water supply was established in 1903 with three deep
wells, electric distribution facilities were in place by 1910, and a public reservoir
was built in 1915. The downtown business district developed between 1900 and
1920, at the same time license plates began to be issued. In fact, Cordell is
notable for issuing plates very early - in at least 1911. The only Oklahoma city
known to have begun issuing porcelains prior to this is Tulsa, which began in
1910. Cordell presumably issued annual plates through at least 1913, although no
1912 plate is known. However, there is one undated variety that turned up in
2007. Could this be the missing 1912 plate? It is intriguing that all three known
years are entirely different in layout and color and are extremely rare.
DEWEY
Dewey is another small town about five miles North of Bartlesville in the oil
country North of Tulsa. It was created in 1892 and renamed Dewey in 1899.
Dewey issued plates for at least two years. The two passenger issues are
completely different in appearance, sharing only a common size. The second of
these is a dated 1913-14 porcelain which is notable because the two surviving
examples - while similar - are distinctly different from one another, perhaps
indicating that they city changed manufacturers before all of the plates were
produced. Another fact distinguishing Dewey is that there is a 1913-14
motorcycle plate known - the only Oklahoma motorcycle porcelain known outside
of Tulsa.
EL RENO
The railroad was built south from Caidwell, Kansas in 1889, and arrived in El Reno
in January of 1890. It was a key factor in the location and growth of the town, as El
Reno became a rail center for the productive wheat harvests of Canadian County.
El Reno issued plates for three years beginning by all estimates in 1912. Like
Chickasha, it is a small town just West of Oklahoma City at the crossroads of
North-South and East-West railways. For whatever reason, the small first issue
plate appears to be the most common with four or five known examples, all of
which fall into a very narrow range in the low to mid 100s. This is also one of the
only Oklahoma porcelains identified by manufacturer, bearing the distinctive oval
mark of the Baltimore Enamel & Novelty Company on the reverse. There are only
five known plates combined for the later two years, and they are unmarked as to
manufacturer.
GAGE
Gage was a tiny town of less than 1000 people in the pre-state era. Located in
Western Oklahoma in Ellis County bordering the Texas panhandle, this small town
nevertheless issued porcelain license plates for at least two years. Each of the
two surviving plates known from the city is unique - one undated and the other
bearing the date 1913.
HOBART
Just one surviving porcelain plate is known in collectors' hands from Hobart, a
small town in Southwestern Oklahoma west of Anadarko. From 1889-1901, Hobart
was a tiny town named Speed. The town came into its own beginning with the
Great Land Lottery of 1901, when the town name changed to Hardin. Tens of
thousands of potential homesteaders camped out in hopes of staking a claim to
the new territory. The town would also become an important railroad center,
which, in turn, brough jobs and prosperity. Hardin maintained an Electric Light
Plant, Ice Plant, a 250 barrel flour mill, and one of the largest oil mills in the
region. There two cotton gins, twelve lumber yards, six coal yards, fifteen hotels
and restaurants, and four newspapers. In 1909, the town was officially changed to
Hobart. It's uncertain when the lone surviving porcelain was issued, but surely
occurred sometime in the 1910-1915 era.
HOMINY
The Osage County community of Hominy is situated in the Tulsa Metro area.
Hominy originated following the removal of the Osage Indians from Kansas during
the early 1870s. They ended up on a reservation and settled along a creek in
present day Hominy. In 1887 two merchants were licensed to trade with the
Osage and a settlement soon developed around their store. In 1891, a post office
was built in Hominy. The Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad reached the
community in 1903 and the town's earliest newspaper started in 1905. Hominy
incorporated in 1908 and had a population of 760 in 1910. Its economy centered
on farming, ranching, and the petroleum industry. Agricultural commodities
included cattle, hogs, cotton, and corn. Further prosperity came with the
discovery of oil in 1916, but that was after the pre-state era. There is only a single
known license plate from Hominy - a dated 1915 porcelain - to represent the early
history of automobiles in the small community.
KINGFISHER
Kingfisher is a small town in central Oklahoma north of El Reno. In its early days,
the town was a trail for nomadic tribes, military supply routes, pony express, and
stage coach routes. The town's basic agricultural economy was in place before
the Land Run. Large cattle operations leased from Indians tribes were located
here. After settlement, wheat lands were developed and later came the great oil
booms. Around the turn of the century the slogan "Buckle of the Wheat Belt"
began to designate Kingfisher. It was the largest wheat market in America at the
time. As for the issuance of license plates, there are two completely different
styles of undated porcelains known, with one having the very unusual format of
being only a half-inch shy in height from being completely square. There are at
least four known surviving examples of these large Kingfisher plates.
LAWTON
The town of Lawton was founded August 6, 1901, when the last of the Indian lands
in the Oklahoma Territory, the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache reservation, was opened
by the federal government for settlement. The Lawton town site was located on a
section of prairie south of Fort Sill, a military post which had been set up as a
cavalry fort in 1869. Lawton lies in southwest Oklahoma, near the Wichita
Mountains, and is the cultural and commercial center of the area. The city is
home to large granite deposits as well as cotton fields. Its population was less
than 10,000 in Oklahoma's pre-state period, when at least two varieties of
porcelain license plates were issued. The undated variety probably dates to 1912
or 1913.
MANGUM
Only a single surviving plate is known from the city of Mangum, another small
town in Southwestern Oklahoma, just West of Hobart.
MUSKOGEE
Modern day Muskogee’s official founding was in 1876, even though settlements
had existed in the area for decades before under the same name. Although
Muskogee sat at the intersection of three rivers and offered vast fertile farm
lands, the town remained relatively quiet for the first years following its
founding. In 1901, Muskogee was still a quiet town of about four thousand
people. However, it was in this first decade of the new century that things began
to pick up. Businesses were constructed, railroads were brought to town, and
Muskogee grew to be a center of business and industry with a population of over
20,000 inhabitants in a matter of years. This grew to some 30,000 in Oklahoma's
pre-state era. The town is located at a rail junction near the Arkansas River in
East Central Oklahoma. In terms of license plates, Muskogee is a good example
of Oklahoma's lack of standardization, even within cities. The first issue, which
Oklahoma specialist Barney Williams has determined was used from 1911-1913, is
a massive plate nearly 16 inches long, one of the largest city plates from any state
in the U.S. A giant “M” in a circle is the only tip-off to where this plate was
issued. Then in 1913-1914, a much smaller plate was issued which is significant
because it is the only porcelain example known from the state to have spelled out
the word “Oklahoma.”
The final issue was a 1914-1915 plate, which is known in two distinct varieties.
The first style has much taller numbers and different slot hole arrangement.
These are marked on the reverse with the oval seal of the Baltimore-based J.F.W.
Dorman Company. This fact is interesting because outside of Muskogee, the
only other plates Dorman is known to have ever made were the 1910-11
Jacksonville, FL motorcycle plates. It's possible that Dorman made the Muskogee
1913-14 plates as well, based on expense reports showing payments to Dorman
for license plates at that time which were reprinted in the city's "Times Democrat"
newspaper, but these plates are unmarked so we can't be certain. The second
style of Muskogee porcelains is represented by a single known example - plate
#524 - which has much shorter numbers, different slot hole placement and no
marker's mark. One can perhaps speculate that the original order from Dorman
was for 500 plates but that late in the year a second order had to be placed
because registrations surpassed expectations. This second group may well have
been ordered from a different manufacturer.
NOWATA
Nowata is another small town in the North-East Oklahoma oil fields, not far from
the Kansas border. For years, dated plates were known from Nowata for 1913 and
1915. No 1914 had ever been seen until 2018 when a full run of Nowata
porcelains were found in the town of Nowata where they had been for over 100
years. Numerous 1915 plates appear to have been unearthed in landfills and are
all in quite poor condition. There are two known 1913 plates and just one
surviving 1914 in collectors' hands.
OKMULGEE
Okmulgee is a medium sized town in East-Central Oklahoma. The central town in
a large oil field, Okmulgee has been the capital of the Creek Nation since the
United States Civil War. The city is known to have issued plates in at least 1914.
There are only 2 known surviving examples of this tough plate.
PERRY
Situated in North-Central Oklahoma at the intersection of several railways, Perry
was settled in 1893 and was at one time referred to as Hell's Half-Acre. The
county seat of Noble County, It is apparently the smallest city in Oklahoma and
had a population of just over 3,000 in the teens. In December of 2010, a house
was being renovated in Perry and the only known Perry porcelain was found in
the wall. This plate is unusual for its black border, one of only three Oklahoma
porcelains to carry a border.
SAPULPA
Sapulpa is the county seat for Creek County and is located in northeast
Oklahoma. The Atlantic and Pacific railroad line extended to the area in 1886, and
the town was incorporated in 1898. In 1905 the discovery of Glenn Pool oilfield,
six miles southeast of Sapulpa, fostered a great period of growth. The oil boom,
the Frisco railroad, and the addition of two brick and four glass plants all
combined to transform Sapulpa from a sleepy little village in Indian Territory to a
bustling community of 20,000 by the mid-1920s. There are two known varieties of
porcelain license plates from the city. The first is a unique 1914 issue, and the
second is an elaborate 1915 variety that mimics the style of numerous Missouri
porcelains issued from jurisdictions such as Kansas City, Independence, and St.
Joseph. The two surviving plates I am aware of are both numbered in the low
5000s, suggesting that perhaps the city began its run at #5000.
SHAWNEE
Present day Shawnee was opened up to white settlers in 1981, and by 1894, the
Choctaw Railroad was committed to come through Shawnee, which would connect
the town to Oklahoma City shortly afterward. The Choctaw's main repair shops
were also relocated to Shawnee, promoting significant growth and a strong
employment base. For the first few years of the new century, Shawnee was in the
midst of a boom that came close to keeping pace with nearby Oklahoma City.
Located in the heart of cotton, potato, and peach country, Shawnee quickly
became an agricultural center, and had one of the largest cotton-seed oil mills in
the Southwest. Feed stores, wagon yards, and an assortment of other businesses
designed to serve the farmer as he brought his crop to market sprung up in
Shawnee. The Santa Fe and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad also built
stations in Shawnee. By 1907, 42 passenger trains and 65 freight trains were
arriving in the city each day. Growth would slow as Oklahoma City began to
outpace Shawnee, but the city still remained strong and prosperous into
Oklahoma's pre-state era. Shawnee is known for two dated porcelain issues -
1914 & 1915. Dump digs have recently unearthed a number of poor condition
plates, and yet they still remain relatively rare with fewer than ten examples of
each year currently known. 1914 plates are known in the 200 and 300 series,
while 1915 plates are in the 500 and 600 series, indicating the possibility that the
1915 issues took up where the 1914 plates left off.
STIGLER
Stigler is the county seat of Haskell County and is located in Eastern Oklahoma,
just to the Southeast of Tulsa. Founded late in the 19th century from former
Indian Territory, this agricultural community had roughly 1,500 residents in 1910.
The only known license plate from Stigler is a 1913 issue.
TULSA
Oklahoma's second largest city, Tulsa boasted the state's longest run of porcelain
plates with annual issues from 1910 through 1915. Like a number of other
Oklahoma cities, Tulsa experimented with various sizes and layouts before finally
becoming relatively standardized beginning in about 1913. The 1911 plate
appears to have picked up where 1910 numbers ended. In 1912, however, plate
numbers reverted to the beginning and did so each year for the remainder of the
porcelain run. Only in 1914 did numbers finally appear to have surpassed 1000.
While the early Tulsa plates are extremely rare, the later years are slightly more
common, with perhaps ten of each of the last three years in collectors’ hands,
making them the most common of all Oklahoma porcelain plates. In addition to
holding the distinction of being the most common, Tulsa is also notable for the
length of time that plates were issued. In fact, Tulsa’s run of six porcelain plates
doubles the next longest runs from Bartlesville, El Reno, and Muskogee, each of
which had a mere three porcelain issues. Tulsa is also notable for having two
non-passenger plates - the only known motorcycle plate other than a 1913-14
Dewey porcelain, and the only known livery plate other than a 1912 issue from
Bartlesville. One interesting fact about the Livery plate is that it is numbered
#1035, strongly suggesting that the livery run may have started at #1000.
Furthermore, there is a gap in the known passenger issues from 1914, with no
plates from the 700s through the 1200s, perhaps indicating that those numbers
were reserved for non-passenger classes.
VINITA
Vinita is located in Northeastern Oklahoma and is the County Seat of Craig
County. Established in 1871, Vinita was the first city in Oklahoma with electricity.
Once a renowned railroad town, Vinita was an important commercial center in the
first decade of the 20th century. As for license plates, there is one surviving
1913 example known to document the city's use of plates. When these plates
were on the roads, fewer than 5,000 residents lived in Vinita.
WAGONER
Cradled between the Verdigris and Grand rivers, about 12 miles north of their
confluence with the Arkansas River, Wagoner lies in North-Eastern Oklahoma and
is surrounded by some of the most fertile farmland and best fishing waters in the
state. The city was first settled in 1887 when a railroad section hand moved his
family to a spot where the tracks of two railroads crossed, 15 miles north of
Muskogee. The spot had been named Wagoner's Switch. By 1892, the town had
grown to a population of 400, with five general mercantile stores, two drugstores,
a cotton gin, grist mill, two blacksmith shops, a livery stable, newspaper and
church house. The town grew steadily through the late 19th century, and by 1900,
Wagoner's census was 3,372, making the fourth largest town in Indian Territory.
Agriculture was the area's economic mainstay, with two cotton gins operating day
and night during the cotton harvest. Corn and prairie hay also were important
products shipped from the city. As for license plates, there is one known
undated porcelain from the city. This plate likely dates from the 1912-1915 era,
although the precise year is unclear. This plate is also notable for having a white
border around the edges of the plate. Only two other Oklahoma porcelains - the
1911 Cordell and undated Perry - carry a border.
II: STATE-ISSUED PASSENGER PLATES
None Issued.
III: STATE-ISSUED NON-PASSENGER PLATES
None Issued.
Oklahoma is a particularly fascinating state when it comes to the issuance of
porcelain license plates. Much like Kansas, Louisiana, and Florida, the plethora
of porcelain issues known from Oklahoma is due entirely to local jurisdictions
choosing to issue plates, as the state itself never produced porcelain plates of
any kind.
I: PRE-STATES / CITY & COUNTY PLATES
Few people would believe that there are 53 different known Oklahoma porcelains
from 24 different cities, and that the number is rising every year as more and
more plates are dug up or re-discovered. Most Oklahoma porcelains known are
presumed to be passenger issues, but there are a few non-passenger plates
which have surfaced, including motorcycle plates from both Dewey and Tulsa, as
well as livery plates from Tulsa and Bartlesville.
The era of porcelain plates from the state of Oklahoma falls in the pre-state
period between 1910 and 1915, when the state finally came out with an embossed
metal issue as its first standardized plate. Once the state began the issuance of
plates, the era of locally-issued plates came to an end. The earliest known issue
is an undated Tulsa plate, dating to approximately 1910. The latest was the last of
three porcelain issues from Bartlesville, which is dated 1915-1916, but probably
was discontinued half way through its intended life span.
When looking at the cities that issued plates in Oklahoma, a pattern emerges
showing that the cities are clustered together in a few regions of the state.
However, these regions don’t necessarily make any sense. Three main clusters
of cities known to have issued porcelain plates emerge – one in the Northeast,
the second on a main road down the center of the state, and a third in the South
Central West portion of the state. The Northeastern region centers around the
city of Tulsa, which was the second largest in the state at the time. The railroad
route south of Tulsa, for instance, has both Sapulpa and Okmulgee on it.
Similarly, the North-South railroad route just East of Tulsa coming in from Kansas
has the cities of Muskogee, Nowata, and Wagoner on it. The second region is the
main railroad line down the center of the state, along which the cities of
Kingfisher, El Reno, and Chickasha lie. West of Chikasha is another main railroad
line which comprises the third general cluster of cities from which porcelains are
known, including Anadarko, Hobart, and Mangum, as well as Cordell just slightly
North.
Clearly, the railroad routes are a primary indicator of which cities were meaningful
enough to have considered the issuance of porcelain license plates. However,
there are huge regions of the state from which we know of no porcelain plates.
Even relatively populous cities which fall outside of one of the clusters never
issued porcelain plates to our knowledge – cities such as McAlester and Guthrie,
both of which had populations of approximately 12,000, as well as Enid with some
16,000 people, are examples. The pattern perhaps suggests that a porcelain
salesperson traveled down a few very specific main roads in the early teens,
convincing the powers-that-be in various cities to spend their revenue on
porcelain plates. And yet, it is not only the wealthy or populous areas that seem
to have agreed. Indeed, porcelain plates are known from some extremely small
cities, such as Anadarko, Bigheart, Mangum, and Kingfisher, which only had
populations of two or three thousand. The populations of these cities hardly
warrant the issuance of expensive porcelain license plates. One possible
explanation lies in the fact that virtually every single one of the cities from which
porcelain plates are known were county seats. These cities perhaps got more
revenue from the state to spend on license plates, and perhaps felt that a well-
crafted, attractive porcelain plate helped advertise the significance of their
respective counties.
In spite of where they were issued, however, one of the defining characteristics
of Oklahoma porcelains is their sheer rarity. Of the 53 known varieties, there are
five or fewer surviving examples known for all but five, and 27 of these are totally
unique. The most common plates, not surprisingly, come from Tulsa’s six year run
between 1910 and 1915. Numerous dug plates are also known from Shawnee.
Beyond these exceptions, however, Oklahoma porcelains are exceedingly rare.
ANADARKO
Anadarko, the county seat of Caddo County, lies along the south bank of the
Washita River in the south-central portion of the county. It is situated eighteen
miles west of Chickasha. The town acquired its name from the Nadarko (Nadaco)
Indians. When land was opened for White settlement, lotteries were held for
homesteads, and town lots were auctioned. Approximately five thousand
prospective buyers were living in what was called "Rag Town" on the east edge
of Anadarko by 1901, when the land was auctioned. Although some twenty
thousand were present for opening day, the population dwindled to just over
2,000 in 1907. The census figures rose to about 3,500 by 1910, where it remained
throughout the pre-state license plate era. The fertile Washita River valley was
good for both crops and livestock, and agriculture was the town's economic
mainstay. There is a single surviving example of a porcelain license plate from
Anadarko - an undated issue with fancy numerals characteristic of the Bartlesville
plates of the same era.
BARTLESVILLE
Bartlesville was named for Jacob Bartles, a Civil War veteran who saw
opportunity in Indian Territory. His general store and marriage into the local
Native American community allowed him to be a business owner in Indian
Territory. Other entrepreneurs followed, and in 1897, the town was officially
incorporated. That same year, Bartlesville became the site for the first
commercial oil well in what is now the state of Oklahoma. Within 20 years, the
area became home to some of the nation's top oil companies. Situated North of
Tulsa, Bartlesville was a city of about 14,000 in Oklahoma's pre-state era. The
city's four plates between 1912 and 1916 distinguish Bartlesville as having the
most different varieties of porcelains produced by any Oklahoma city other than
Tulsa. A repainted 1912 livery plate is known - one of very few porcelain non-
passengers - although the original colors are in dispute. The 1915-16 plate, the
last of the city's three annual passenger plates, is notable for bearing the latest
date of any Oklahoma porcelain - 1916. However, this plate was probably used
only for a relatively short period of time in 1915 before being replaced by the
state issue once it became available. Even though there are four known plates
from Bartlesville, they remain quite rare, with fewer than a dozen total plates
from all years combined currently known in collectors' hands.
BIGHEART
In the rich oilfields about forty miles north of Tulsa sits the town of Barnsdall.
Originally named Bigheart for Osage Chief James Bigheart, the community was
officially renamed in honor of Theodore N. Barnsdall and his Barnsdall Oil
Company in 1922. Bigheart began as a 160-acre townsite along the Midland Valley
Railway in 1905. Surveyed and platted, land lots were auctioned in 1906.
Businesses and residences quickly sprang up. Joshua S. Cosden built the
Southwestern Refining Company at Bigheart around 1910, which brought further
prosperity to the tiny town. Bigheart's population increased from 307 in 1910 to a
high of just over 2,000 in 1920. In the pre-state era, there were probably about
1,500 residents in the town. A single Bigheart porcelain is known to document
the city's early issuance of license plates.
BROKEN ARROW
In the early 20th century, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway company built a
railroad which ran through the area of present day Broken Arrow in Northeastern
Oklahoma. The railroad was granted town site privileges along the route and sold
three of the as-yet-unnamed sites in 1902 to the Arkansas Valley Town Site
company. The secretary of that company named one of these sites Broken Arrow
in honor of an early Native American community in the area of the same name.
The MKT railroad, which ran throught the middle of the city, still exists today and
is now owned by Union Pacific. For the first decades of Broken Arrow's history,
the town was based mainly on agriculture, and the city grew quite slowly during
the first half of the 1900s. In fact, Broken Arrow had fewer than 2,000 residents
when plates were issued there. The only known surviving example is a dated
1914 issue.
CHICKASHA
Strategically located at the intersection of North-South and East-West railways
Southwest of Oklahoma city, Chickasha is known to have issued plates from 1912
through 1915. 1914 was the earliest known example for many years until 2009
when an advertising campaign unearthed the first and only known 1913 plate.
Then in 2012, a previously unrecorded 1912 plate surfaced in the collection of the
Chickasha Antique Auto Club. Interestingly, there are two dated 1914 plates of
entirely different color schemes. The reason for this difference is unknown - it
could be a weight class difference, or perhaps the difference between a
passenger issue and a vehicle for hire. Such differences are not unheard of - for
other examples, please see the Unexplained Mysteries gallery. There are
approximately a dozen total plates known from Chickasha.
COLLINSVILLE
The town of Collinsville was incorporated in 1899. That summer, the Santa Fe
Railroad was built, bringing singnificant prominence to the fledgling city. In the
early 1900s, natural gas was discovered near Collinsville. Then one of the largest
brick plants in the state was established when the Coffeyville Vitrified Brick & Tile
Company came to town in 1908. The plant employed 40 to 50 men at full capacity
and shipped its bricks all over the United States. It was bricks from this plant that
were used to pave the main streets of Collinsville in 1913. Another early boom
for Collinsville came with the smelter industry. The Prime Western and
Bartlesville Zinc smelters came to town, bringing in many more people to live and
work in Collinsville. In these early boom days, the town's population was
aproximately 8,000. Like so many other small Oklahoma cities, there is one lone
survivor proving that the town dabbled with porcelain license plates - in this case
a dated 1915 issue.
CORDELL
In 1892, some 5,000 settlers raced into what would become Washita County to
stake claims to homesteads. Soon afterwards, Cordell sprang up as a center of
housing and commerce. Cordell won a hard-fought battle to land the Bes Line
Railroad in 1902, which made a significant contribution to the city's growing
prominence. The public water supply was established in 1903 with three deep
wells, electric distribution facilities were in place by 1910, and a public reservoir
was built in 1915. The downtown business district developed between 1900 and
1920, at the same time license plates began to be issued. In fact, Cordell is
notable for issuing plates very early - in at least 1911. The only Oklahoma city
known to have begun issuing porcelains prior to this is Tulsa, which began in
1910. Cordell presumably issued annual plates through at least 1913, although no
1912 plate is known. However, there is one undated variety that turned up in
2007. Could this be the missing 1912 plate? It is intriguing that all three known
years are entirely different in layout and color and are extremely rare.
DEWEY
Dewey is another small town about five miles North of Bartlesville in the oil
country North of Tulsa. It was created in 1892 and renamed Dewey in 1899.
Dewey issued plates for at least two years. The two passenger issues are
completely different in appearance, sharing only a common size. The second of
these is a dated 1913-14 porcelain which is notable because the two surviving
examples - while similar - are distinctly different from one another, perhaps
indicating that they city changed manufacturers before all of the plates were
produced. Another fact distinguishing Dewey is that there is a 1913-14
motorcycle plate known - the only Oklahoma motorcycle porcelain known outside
of Tulsa.
EL RENO
The railroad was built south from Caidwell, Kansas in 1889, and arrived in El Reno
in January of 1890. It was a key factor in the location and growth of the town, as El
Reno became a rail center for the productive wheat harvests of Canadian County.
El Reno issued plates for three years beginning by all estimates in 1912. Like
Chickasha, it is a small town just West of Oklahoma City at the crossroads of
North-South and East-West railways. For whatever reason, the small first issue
plate appears to be the most common with four or five known examples, all of
which fall into a very narrow range in the low to mid 100s. This is also one of the
only Oklahoma porcelains identified by manufacturer, bearing the distinctive oval
mark of the Baltimore Enamel & Novelty Company on the reverse. There are only
five known plates combined for the later two years, and they are unmarked as to
manufacturer.
GAGE
Gage was a tiny town of less than 1000 people in the pre-state era. Located in
Western Oklahoma in Ellis County bordering the Texas panhandle, this small town
nevertheless issued porcelain license plates for at least two years. Each of the
two surviving plates known from the city is unique - one undated and the other
bearing the date 1913.
HOBART
Just one surviving porcelain plate is known in collectors' hands from Hobart, a
small town in Southwestern Oklahoma west of Anadarko. From 1889-1901, Hobart
was a tiny town named Speed. The town came into its own beginning with the
Great Land Lottery of 1901, when the town name changed to Hardin. Tens of
thousands of potential homesteaders camped out in hopes of staking a claim to
the new territory. The town would also become an important railroad center,
which, in turn, brough jobs and prosperity. Hardin maintained an Electric Light
Plant, Ice Plant, a 250 barrel flour mill, and one of the largest oil mills in the
region. There two cotton gins, twelve lumber yards, six coal yards, fifteen hotels
and restaurants, and four newspapers. In 1909, the town was officially changed to
Hobart. It's uncertain when the lone surviving porcelain was issued, but surely
occurred sometime in the 1910-1915 era.
HOMINY
The Osage County community of Hominy is situated in the Tulsa Metro area.
Hominy originated following the removal of the Osage Indians from Kansas during
the early 1870s. They ended up on a reservation and settled along a creek in
present day Hominy. In 1887 two merchants were licensed to trade with the
Osage and a settlement soon developed around their store. In 1891, a post office
was built in Hominy. The Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad reached the
community in 1903 and the town's earliest newspaper started in 1905. Hominy
incorporated in 1908 and had a population of 760 in 1910. Its economy centered
on farming, ranching, and the petroleum industry. Agricultural commodities
included cattle, hogs, cotton, and corn. Further prosperity came with the
discovery of oil in 1916, but that was after the pre-state era. There is only a single
known license plate from Hominy - a dated 1915 porcelain - to represent the early
history of automobiles in the small community.
KINGFISHER
Kingfisher is a small town in central Oklahoma north of El Reno. In its early days,
the town was a trail for nomadic tribes, military supply routes, pony express, and
stage coach routes. The town's basic agricultural economy was in place before
the Land Run. Large cattle operations leased from Indians tribes were located
here. After settlement, wheat lands were developed and later came the great oil
booms. Around the turn of the century the slogan "Buckle of the Wheat Belt"
began to designate Kingfisher. It was the largest wheat market in America at the
time. As for the issuance of license plates, there are two completely different
styles of undated porcelains known, with one having the very unusual format of
being only a half-inch shy in height from being completely square. There are at
least four known surviving examples of these large Kingfisher plates.
LAWTON
The town of Lawton was founded August 6, 1901, when the last of the Indian lands
in the Oklahoma Territory, the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache reservation, was opened
by the federal government for settlement. The Lawton town site was located on a
section of prairie south of Fort Sill, a military post which had been set up as a
cavalry fort in 1869. Lawton lies in southwest Oklahoma, near the Wichita
Mountains, and is the cultural and commercial center of the area. The city is
home to large granite deposits as well as cotton fields. Its population was less
than 10,000 in Oklahoma's pre-state period, when at least two varieties of
porcelain license plates were issued. The undated variety probably dates to 1912
or 1913.
MANGUM
Only a single surviving plate is known from the city of Mangum, another small
town in Southwestern Oklahoma, just West of Hobart.
MUSKOGEE
Modern day Muskogee’s official founding was in 1876, even though settlements
had existed in the area for decades before under the same name. Although
Muskogee sat at the intersection of three rivers and offered vast fertile farm
lands, the town remained relatively quiet for the first years following its
founding. In 1901, Muskogee was still a quiet town of about four thousand
people. However, it was in this first decade of the new century that things began
to pick up. Businesses were constructed, railroads were brought to town, and
Muskogee grew to be a center of business and industry with a population of over
20,000 inhabitants in a matter of years. This grew to some 30,000 in Oklahoma's
pre-state era. The town is located at a rail junction near the Arkansas River in
East Central Oklahoma. In terms of license plates, Muskogee is a good example
of Oklahoma's lack of standardization, even within cities. The first issue, which
Oklahoma specialist Barney Williams has determined was used from 1911-1913, is
a massive plate nearly 16 inches long, one of the largest city plates from any state
in the U.S. A giant “M” in a circle is the only tip-off to where this plate was
issued. Then in 1913-1914, a much smaller plate was issued which is significant
because it is the only porcelain example known from the state to have spelled out
the word “Oklahoma.”
The final issue was a 1914-1915 plate, which is known in two distinct varieties.
The first style has much taller numbers and different slot hole arrangement.
These are marked on the reverse with the oval seal of the Baltimore-based J.F.W.
Dorman Company. This fact is interesting because outside of Muskogee, the
only other plates Dorman is known to have ever made were the 1910-11
Jacksonville, FL motorcycle plates. It's possible that Dorman made the Muskogee
1913-14 plates as well, based on expense reports showing payments to Dorman
for license plates at that time which were reprinted in the city's "Times Democrat"
newspaper, but these plates are unmarked so we can't be certain. The second
style of Muskogee porcelains is represented by a single known example - plate
#524 - which has much shorter numbers, different slot hole placement and no
marker's mark. One can perhaps speculate that the original order from Dorman
was for 500 plates but that late in the year a second order had to be placed
because registrations surpassed expectations. This second group may well have
been ordered from a different manufacturer.
NOWATA
Nowata is another small town in the North-East Oklahoma oil fields, not far from
the Kansas border. For years, dated plates were known from Nowata for 1913 and
1915. No 1914 had ever been seen until 2018 when a full run of Nowata
porcelains were found in the town of Nowata where they had been for over 100
years. Numerous 1915 plates appear to have been unearthed in landfills and are
all in quite poor condition. There are two known 1913 plates and just one
surviving 1914 in collectors' hands.
OKMULGEE
Okmulgee is a medium sized town in East-Central Oklahoma. The central town in
a large oil field, Okmulgee has been the capital of the Creek Nation since the
United States Civil War. The city is known to have issued plates in at least 1914.
There are only 2 known surviving examples of this tough plate.
PERRY
Situated in North-Central Oklahoma at the intersection of several railways, Perry
was settled in 1893 and was at one time referred to as Hell's Half-Acre. The
county seat of Noble County, It is apparently the smallest city in Oklahoma and
had a population of just over 3,000 in the teens. In December of 2010, a house
was being renovated in Perry and the only known Perry porcelain was found in
the wall. This plate is unusual for its black border, one of only three Oklahoma
porcelains to carry a border.
SAPULPA
Sapulpa is the county seat for Creek County and is located in northeast
Oklahoma. The Atlantic and Pacific railroad line extended to the area in 1886, and
the town was incorporated in 1898. In 1905 the discovery of Glenn Pool oilfield,
six miles southeast of Sapulpa, fostered a great period of growth. The oil boom,
the Frisco railroad, and the addition of two brick and four glass plants all
combined to transform Sapulpa from a sleepy little village in Indian Territory to a
bustling community of 20,000 by the mid-1920s. There are two known varieties of
porcelain license plates from the city. The first is a unique 1914 issue, and the
second is an elaborate 1915 variety that mimics the style of numerous Missouri
porcelains issued from jurisdictions such as Kansas City, Independence, and St.
Joseph. The two surviving plates I am aware of are both numbered in the low
5000s, suggesting that perhaps the city began its run at #5000.
SHAWNEE
Present day Shawnee was opened up to white settlers in 1981, and by 1894, the
Choctaw Railroad was committed to come through Shawnee, which would connect
the town to Oklahoma City shortly afterward. The Choctaw's main repair shops
were also relocated to Shawnee, promoting significant growth and a strong
employment base. For the first few years of the new century, Shawnee was in the
midst of a boom that came close to keeping pace with nearby Oklahoma City.
Located in the heart of cotton, potato, and peach country, Shawnee quickly
became an agricultural center, and had one of the largest cotton-seed oil mills in
the Southwest. Feed stores, wagon yards, and an assortment of other businesses
designed to serve the farmer as he brought his crop to market sprung up in
Shawnee. The Santa Fe and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad also built
stations in Shawnee. By 1907, 42 passenger trains and 65 freight trains were
arriving in the city each day. Growth would slow as Oklahoma City began to
outpace Shawnee, but the city still remained strong and prosperous into
Oklahoma's pre-state era. Shawnee is known for two dated porcelain issues -
1914 & 1915. Dump digs have recently unearthed a number of poor condition
plates, and yet they still remain relatively rare with fewer than ten examples of
each year currently known. 1914 plates are known in the 200 and 300 series,
while 1915 plates are in the 500 and 600 series, indicating the possibility that the
1915 issues took up where the 1914 plates left off.
STIGLER
Stigler is the county seat of Haskell County and is located in Eastern Oklahoma,
just to the Southeast of Tulsa. Founded late in the 19th century from former
Indian Territory, this agricultural community had roughly 1,500 residents in 1910.
The only known license plate from Stigler is a 1913 issue.
TULSA
Oklahoma's second largest city, Tulsa boasted the state's longest run of porcelain
plates with annual issues from 1910 through 1915. Like a number of other
Oklahoma cities, Tulsa experimented with various sizes and layouts before finally
becoming relatively standardized beginning in about 1913. The 1911 plate
appears to have picked up where 1910 numbers ended. In 1912, however, plate
numbers reverted to the beginning and did so each year for the remainder of the
porcelain run. Only in 1914 did numbers finally appear to have surpassed 1000.
While the early Tulsa plates are extremely rare, the later years are slightly more
common, with perhaps ten of each of the last three years in collectors’ hands,
making them the most common of all Oklahoma porcelain plates. In addition to
holding the distinction of being the most common, Tulsa is also notable for the
length of time that plates were issued. In fact, Tulsa’s run of six porcelain plates
doubles the next longest runs from Bartlesville, El Reno, and Muskogee, each of
which had a mere three porcelain issues. Tulsa is also notable for having two
non-passenger plates - the only known motorcycle plate other than a 1913-14
Dewey porcelain, and the only known livery plate other than a 1912 issue from
Bartlesville. One interesting fact about the Livery plate is that it is numbered
#1035, strongly suggesting that the livery run may have started at #1000.
Furthermore, there is a gap in the known passenger issues from 1914, with no
plates from the 700s through the 1200s, perhaps indicating that those numbers
were reserved for non-passenger classes.
VINITA
Vinita is located in Northeastern Oklahoma and is the County Seat of Craig
County. Established in 1871, Vinita was the first city in Oklahoma with electricity.
Once a renowned railroad town, Vinita was an important commercial center in the
first decade of the 20th century. As for license plates, there is one surviving
1913 example known to document the city's use of plates. When these plates
were on the roads, fewer than 5,000 residents lived in Vinita.
WAGONER
Cradled between the Verdigris and Grand rivers, about 12 miles north of their
confluence with the Arkansas River, Wagoner lies in North-Eastern Oklahoma and
is surrounded by some of the most fertile farmland and best fishing waters in the
state. The city was first settled in 1887 when a railroad section hand moved his
family to a spot where the tracks of two railroads crossed, 15 miles north of
Muskogee. The spot had been named Wagoner's Switch. By 1892, the town had
grown to a population of 400, with five general mercantile stores, two drugstores,
a cotton gin, grist mill, two blacksmith shops, a livery stable, newspaper and
church house. The town grew steadily through the late 19th century, and by 1900,
Wagoner's census was 3,372, making the fourth largest town in Indian Territory.
Agriculture was the area's economic mainstay, with two cotton gins operating day
and night during the cotton harvest. Corn and prairie hay also were important
products shipped from the city. As for license plates, there is one known
undated porcelain from the city. This plate likely dates from the 1912-1915 era,
although the precise year is unclear. This plate is also notable for having a white
border around the edges of the plate. Only two other Oklahoma porcelains - the
1911 Cordell and undated Perry - carry a border.
II: STATE-ISSUED PASSENGER PLATES
None Issued.
III: STATE-ISSUED NON-PASSENGER PLATES
None Issued.
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To Access a Census of Known Tulsa Porcelains, Click here: TULSA PORCELAIN CENSUS (1910-1915) |
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