Katie Couric's Notebook: License plates If you happen to be listening to this notebook on CBS Radio, there's a good chance you're in a car - maybe just beginning your evening commute home. Take a look at the license plate in front of you. What state is it from? What color is it? On this day 110 years ago New York became the first state to require all motor vehicles to have a license plate. The plates were made by the drivers themselves - just initials tacked onto leather or a piece of metal. Massachusetts was first to issue license plates in 1903 and a man named Frederick Tudor got number 1. His family reportedly still has the plate number in active registration. It wasn't until 1957 that plates were standardized into the six by twelve shape that we know today. As for vanity plates, I read that my home state of Virginia has the highest per capita. I don't have one but if I did maybe I'd get KCNCBS. As in, that's a page from Katie Couric's Notebook CBS News.