🚗 This humble license plate marks a turning point in how Americans organized modern life.

Massachusetts license plate No. 1 is closely associated with Henry Lee Higginson, the Boston financier, philanthropist, and founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra who successfully urged the Massachusetts legislature to regulate automobiles in 1903.

Although Higginson is credited with initiating the system, license plate No. 1 was issued to his nephew, Frederic Tudor, who owned a second home in Sandwich. Why Tudor received the first plate is not fully documented. At the time, state automobile registration was entirely new, and procedures were still taking shape—leaving room for personal connections, administrative discretion, or simple happenstance.

What is clear is the result. Higginson’s petition led to the first state-issued automobile license plates in the United States, introducing accountability and identification to a rapidly changing transportation landscape. A solution to a local problem—speeding automobiles near Higginson’s home—quickly became a model adopted nationwide.

Objects like this remind us that the modern systems we take for granted—rules of the road, identification, public safety—often grew out of everyday local concerns.

2026 Collection Focus — 🇺🇸#America250 #SandwichMAHistoricalSociety
Throughout 2026, we’re diving into our permanent collection—researching familiar objects, uncovering new stories, and rethinking how they connect to Sandwich, the nation, and the world as we commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.