This page, and my cardinal license plate collection, are both dedicated to my wife, Debbie. She was born and
raised in southern Illinois, where the state bird is the cardinal, and she's a life-long St. Louis Cardinals baseball
fan. The cardinal is also the state bird of North Carolina, our present state of residence.
Altogether, the cardinal is the state bird of seven adjacent U.S. states: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky,
West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.

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Illinois – Environmental
The Illinois cardinal plate is a special issue plate whose proceeds are used to maintain and preserve Illinois
parks. The top plate shown is a first generation cardinal plate, which was first issued in April 1994.
During the 2001-2002 general reissue of standard plates, the cardinal plates were redesigned and reissued as
well. The bottom plate is an example of one of these, and this style continues to be issued today.
These plates currently cost $40 extra the first year, and $27 extra each renewal.
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Illinois – Special Event – 1996 ALPCA Convention
Illinois issues a multitude of license plates for special events that take place within the state.
Although primarily used as souvenirs, they are legitimate state-issued license plates that are actually valid for
street use for up to 60 days, expiring on the last day of the event as shown on the plate. The 1996 ALPCA
convention was held in Peoria, Illinois, and the special event plate produced for this event was heavily based on
the environmental plate, as you can see.
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Illinois – Illinois State University
Illinois offers a variety of plates promoting various colleges and universities, including Illinois State
University, whose teams are called the Redbirds and which has a cardinal mascot. This plate is a first
generation plate and bears a mangled and severely faded 11/2002 expiration sticker.
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Indiana – Ball State University
Ball State University is located in Muncie, Indiana, and its sports teams are called the Cardinals.
The Ball State license plate is available for a $40 annual fee only to those Indiana motorists who are members
of the Ball State Alumni Association. $25 of the fee goes to the Association for funding scholarships,
among other things. This plate continues to be available today.
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Indiana – Hoosier Safety & Secure Indiana
The now-discontinued Hoosier Safety optional-issue plate cost $40 extra per year,
$25 of which was a donation to the Emergency Management, Fire and Building Services, and Public Safety Training
Foundation (is that a mouthful?) for various projects "to ensure the safety and well being of the citizens of
Indiana". The word Hoosier means a native or resident of Indiana.
A nearly identical plate with the legend Secure Indiana is now being issued in its
place for the same cost. The new plate funds the Indiana Homeland Security Foundation.
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Ohio – Wildlife
Ohio wildlife plates with cardinals on them have been issued on several different base plates. Shown are
the first generation plate introduced in about 1997, and the third generation issued beginning in 2004. The
current wildlife plate costs Ohio motorists an additional $25 per year over the cost of a standard-issue
plate. According to the Ohio BMV, $15 of this fee "helps to support endangered species and wildlife
programs". The stickers in the lower left corners of these plates identify the motorists' counties; "23" is
Fairfield County and "25" is Franklin County.
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Kentucky – Nature
Kentucky has issued several plates to support environmental causes, the cardinal plate being among them.
There are two versions of this plate; the earlier version with a white Kentucky
outlined in black, and the newer one, with a solid black Kentucky that's much easier
to read. Both are now discontinued in favor of a hummingbird plate, but when issued, the cardinal plates
cost an extra $25 per year.
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Kentucky – University of Louisville
I know it must be hard to try to make a cardinal look tough, but I've never heard of a bird with teeth!
This is the third generation of University of Louisville plates issued by Kentucky, first issued in 2003.
Neither of the first two versions had a cardinal on them. This plate now costs a whopping $56 the first
year and at five year intervals when the plate is reissued; it's $31 extra each year in which renewal stickers
are issued. $10 each year goes to the university's general scholarship fund. This design is due to
be replaced in 2008; it remains to be seen whether the next version will feature a cardinal.
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Virginia – Heritage
The Virginia cardinal plate has been on the road since the early 1990s, and is among the more popular of
Virginia's numerous optional issue plates. It can be obtained for a $10 one-time fee. This plate has
pretty much consumed the entire range of serial numbers in the xx-0000 format, with
new plates currently being issued in the "Z" series. It remains to be seen if a new serial format will be
started when ZZ-9999 is reached.
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North Carolina – Wildlife Conservation
This plate, like the North Carolina standard-issue passenger plate on which it is based, has been around for
many years. These plates are not terribly popular; since they look so similar to the standard-issue plates,
there is little motivation for motorists to pay $20 extra per year for the privilege of displaying them,
especially with such a small cardinal graphic. $10 of this goes to the state Wildlife Resources
Commission's wildlife conservation fund.
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Iowa – Iowa State University
Iowa State University's sports teams are called the Cyclones, so you wouldn't think their plates would belong
in a cardinal plate collection. But, as you can see from the close-up of the small graphic located at the
upper left corner of the plate, their "cyclone" mascot has a cardinal's head (again, apparently with
teeth).
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West Virginia has the dubious distinction of being the only state whose state bird is the cardinal, but which hasn't
issued some kind of cardinal license plate. For some mysterious reason, they chose to put an image of a
rose-breasted grosbeak (a mostly black and white bird, with a red neck) on their wildlife plate.
Thanks to those who have directly contributed to the information on this page:
Leo Good.
Good photo is presumed to be copyrighted by Leo Good, and is used with permission.