What Did Idaho’s License Plates Look Like The Year You Were Born?

Idaho’s license plate design has been the same for decades, so we’re not surprised if you’re not familiar with how significant our state’s plate truly is! 

When we got our first Idaho plates, our family members back in Ohio thought it was just so cool that the bottom of our plates said “Famous Potatoes.” Little did they know that the original “Idaho Potatoes” design from 1928 revolutionized what other states started putting on their plates. According to AAA, Idaho’s green and tan plate was stamped with a picture of a potato and the words “Idaho Potatoes” was the first license plate in America to feature a slogan. 

Because many documents pertaining to Idaho’s license plates before 1950 were thrown away, it’s tough to say whether or not the first potato plates were issued before or after a little codfish appeared on Massachusetts’s 1928 plates. There’s a real possibility that they were the first state plates in America to feature a graphic, too. 

Those early plates weren’t well received. Author and speaker, Rick Just, does a fantastic job chronicling Idaho’s love but mostly hate relationship with the 1928 potato plates and the baked potato plates from 1948-49. You can read his story about the potato plates HERE.  

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Idaho issued new passenger baseplates every year from 1913-1967 and each of them was a little bit different. New designs became less frequent after that when Idaho started using renewal stickers instead. Thanks to vintage license plate collectors and their passion for eBay, we were able to find almost every single one of those plates online.

What did the license plate in Idaho look like the year you were born? We’d be willing to bet for many of you it looked different from the year you started driving. Scroll through the photos to find out more about the plate from your birth year!