Runabout, Phaeton or Touring Car?

You never know what you might find in the records of the dry-sounding “Department of the Provincial Secretary”at the Archives of Ontario. The Department was an all-encompassing, catch-all arm of the Ontario government from which other departments “hatched” when they were needed.

In 1903, the government decided that they really ought to keep track of these new-fangled automobiles. The Provincial Secretary’s Office got the job for the first dozen years.

The following list is transcribed from a bound book of the first licenses issued, from August 1903 to May 1904. The pages have a perforation on the right where the owners’ copies were detached. They’re in numerical order—a bit messed up at the end. John C. Eaton had the honor of licenses number 1 and 2.

As you can see in the sample, each license shows the type of car, who made it and what made it go, as well as an address for the owner. Many of them also show subsequent owners of the vehicle—taking the records beyond the 1904 date. That’s why you see some license numbers on the list more than once.

Interesting to see the variety of manufacturers, some recognizable like Olds, and Rambler, and CCM (the middle C for Cycle), but lots of others.

Interesting to see the variety of owners, too. Some recognizable names, lots of doctors, mostly in Toronto. I may just write more about some of them.

You can find the licenses (RG 14-48) at the Archives of Ontario on microfilm MS 261.