Ever notice some cars only have a license plate on the back while others both? It comes down to how different states balance safety, cost, and design.

The first plates here were issued in 1905. In the early days of license plates, states didn't always make them, Hughson says, leading to great variety if not confusion on the roads. States would just ...

For more than a century, residents of the maximum-security prison in Waupun have produced the state's license plates. Here's ...