Good morning, I’m Will Richmond at The Providence Journal and this is the Daily Briefing.
Count me among the residents of Rhode Island who have a low-numbered license plate.
Passed down from my father’s side of the family, it became mine after my dad passed away. It’s not a super low number, but certainly, we were careful to ensure the plate didn’t get away.
I don’t have to be the one to tell you about Rhode Islanders’ obsession with low-numbered plates, but it also means the history behind these plates can be fascinating.
If you’ve ever wondered who held the state’s first low-numbered plates, well The Journal’s Antonia Farzan has the answer. With the help of the “Who it is” directory from 1906, Antonia collected the history of the first people to hold numbers 1 through 10, along with a couple of other distinguished low-numbered license plate holders.
• Speaking of being a Rhode Islander, who among us doesn’t have fond memories of Benny’s?
I can still smell the odor of rubber from the tire shop that would greet you walking in through the automatic doors, the candy bar display at the end of the aisle and pretty much every bike my brother and I got came from Benny’s.