Rick Kretschmer's License Plate Archives

A Pictorial History of Maryland License Plates
Organizational Member Plates Dated 1920s to Present

Maryland Index
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My "Pictorial History" pages are intended to be a supplement to the information found in the ALPCA Archives. I am providing additional details and additional photos not found in the archives, and clarifying information when appropriate. When the ALPCA archives cover a subject in great detail, I do not repeat that detail here. I sincerely hope that you find this information useful. If you find an error or have additional information, or can provide a plate or a photo of a plate that I'm missing, please send me an e-mail. There's a link to my e-mail address at the bottom of every page.

Mouse over any image to see a description of the plate. Click on any image to see an enlarged version.

On this page - Maryland organizational member plates
Introduction
Maryland organizational member plates through 1953
Maryland organizational member plates dated 1954-1975
Maryland organizational member plates from 1976-1987 (embossed "Maryland")
Maryland organizational member and military-related plates from 1987-present (script "Maryland")
Table of Maryland organizational member plate serial prefixes and formats, 1954-1987
Related links

Introduction

From 1938 until present, Maryland license plates have displayed the year of expiration rather than the year of issuance. From 1939 until 1986, all passenger cars expired annually on March 31. In some years, the expiration month or month and date were indicated, at other times only the expiration year was shown. I consistently refer to these plates by the year shown on the plate.

Organizational plates are common in most states today, and Maryland currently leads the way with many hundreds of different organizational plates available. But did you know that Maryland pioneered issuing organizational plates of sorts, by reserving blocks of regular-issue passenger plates for members of specific groups, reportedly as early as the 1920s? These were perhaps the very first organizational license plates in America. This practice was, as you can imagine, rather subtle and not well documented.

When Maryland converted to a xx-00-00 serial format for the 1954 expiration plates, the practice of assigning serial blocks for organizations became somewhat more obvious. Some are well known and well documented; for example, members of the American Legion were able to obtain plates in the serial format AL-00-00. But there are perhaps many more instances where it is less than clear whether a given alpha series was reserved for an organization at all, and if it were, to which organization. On this page I've documented both organizational reserved alpha series where there is no room for doubt in my mind, as well as reserved series prefixes identified by other collectors and researchers that I have not been able to personally verify.

Maryland organizational plates and renewal stickers have closely resembled or been indistinguishable from their standard equivalents from the same time period. For this reason, I shall not re-hash information available on the passenger car plate page that is applicable to all plate types - things like plate dimensions, plate colors, location of "Maryland" and the expiration date on the plate, sticker colors, etc. Deviations from regular-issue plates or stickers, whether small or large, are noted where applicable.

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Organizational member plates through 1953

Maryland passenger car plates had all-numeric serial numbers from the very beginning, up through 1953 expirations. In the June 1983 issue of the ALPCA Newsletter, Ray Frank wrote regarding Maryland passenger plates with serial number ranges reserved for members of specific organizations:

An informal reserved number series began in the 1920s with the 45,000 series allocated for the Tall Cedars, 60,000 for the Knights of Columbus, and 75,000 or 175,000 for Shriners.

This text is repeated almost verbatim in the ALPCA archives, but I haven't found any independent source that could collaborate this information or provide any additional details. I think it's very likely that additional organizations also had reserved blocks of serial numbers through 1953.

Distinctive and clearly marked plates were issued to members of the Disabled American Veterans beginning on the 1948 base. To my knowledge these are the only overt organizational plates issued during the time period 1910-1953. The center part of the plate carried the large letters "D. A. V." followed by a serial number, which on every example I've seen, is a three digit number. Along the bottom edge of the plate are the words "Disabled Veteran" also in somewhat large letters. There's a 1954 DAV plate, identical to the 1948-1953 DAV plates except for colors and date, shown in the next section.

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Organizational member plates dated 1954-1975

During this 22 year span, standard Maryland passenger car plates had serial formats that consisted of two letters followed by four numbers. The specific format varied from xx-00-00 to xx-0000 to xx 0000 as the years went on, and the embossed separator characters varied between dashes, diamonds, and colons.

Normal, personal truck plates during this time had serials consisting of four numbers followed by two letters, with the first letter always an "E" through 1970, or with the first letter "D", "E", or "J" on the 1971 base. For example, formats 00-00-Ex, 0000-Ex, 0000 Dx, 0000 Ex, and 0000 Jx were all used for standard truck plates.

During this period, organizational plates were pretty much limited to various military veterans' organizations, certain groups affiliated with Masons and Shriners, and various other civic organizations.

1954-1975 Organizational Member Plates - Reserved Passenger Plate Prefixes


1959 Tall Cedars of Lebanon - Baltimore Forest (Masons), 1960 Elks Association, 1961 Optimist Club, 1964 Boumi Temple (Shriners), 1967 American Legion, 1972 Prince Hall (Masons)

During this time, a number of organizations were able to reserve specific passenger plate letter prefix combinations for their members. For example, members of the American Legion could get passenger plates with an AL serial prefix. In the vast majority of cases, these reserved series organizational plates were indistiguishable from regular passenger plates. Only very keen observers or those familiar with a specific organization knew there was anything special about these plates. However, a few organizational passenger plate prefixes are fairly apparent to plate historians because the prefixes fall outside of the range issued on standard passenger plates.

Today, decades later, there is one valuable clue to help determine whether a given alpha prefix was a reserved organizaitonal series. Standard passenger plates were issued randomly each year; regular motorists couldn't keep the same registration number from one year to the next. By contrast, organizational plates were distributed by the organization as they saw fit (often with the organization's leaders getting the lowest numbers). Frequently, individual members could request from the organization the same plate number year after year. So, if you see a series of Maryland plates spanning several years, and the plates all have the same number, you're almost certainly looking at organizational plates of some kind.

At the bottom of this page is a table of passenger plate prefixes that are verified, reported, or suspected to have been reserved for organizational members.

1954-1975 Organizational Member Plates - Reserved Truck Plate Suffixes

The only standard-format truck plate with a reserved organziational suffix issued during this time was the Firemen's Association personal truck plate, which had an FD suffix. I believe these were introduced on the 1971 base. Suffixes FA, FB, and FC were issued to truck tractors on the 1971 base, but FD suffixes were invariably seen on pickup trucks and other personal light trucks. These FD suffix plates were used for only a couple of years before being recalled and replaced with distinct format Firemen's Association personal truck plates, which are covered immediately below.

It's intersting to note that on the 1976 and 1981 bases, truck tractors were again issued plates with the letters FA, FB, FC, and FE as prefixes, but they skipped prefix FD, even though by then firefighter organizational plates had a completely different format.

Some people assume that suffix EE truck plates were a Masonic Order reserved series, since prefix EE was a passenger prefix reserved for Masons. Back then, most regular-issue truck plates had suffixes that began with E, and so EE suffix truck plates were simply standard, sequentially-issued truck plates. In support of this assertion, I've never seen any truck plates with, say, suffixes AL or BB or CC, which are other known organizational passenger plate prefixes. Also, on later bases, no organization with reserved passenger-format plates ever had reserved truck-format plates.

1954-1975 Organizational Member Plates - Distinct Formats


1954 Disabled American Veterans (Sallmen photo / plate), 1960 Disabled American Veterans, 1966 Veterans of Foreign Wars, 1970 Veterans of Foreign Wars, 1975 Disabled American Veterans, 1975 Firemen's Association personal car, 1975 Firemen's Association personal truck

During this period, organizational plates issued to members of the Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars were very distinctive because they bore the three-letter prefixes DAV or VFW, respectively. The 1954 DAV plate shown above continued unchanged from the 1953 and earlier DAV plates, with the large organizational legend at the bottom. By 1960, DAV plates had became somewhat more conventional in appearance. I'm guessing that 1955 and 1956 expiraiton DAV plates also looked like the 1954 plate, while 1957 and later plates were similar to the 1960 plate shown above. I don't have any information about 1950s VFW plates.

From 1954 to 1967 expirations, serial numbers were limited to six characters. Since the VFW, at least, had more than 999 members' vehicles registered, a variable letter can often be found in either the fourth, fifth, or sixth character positions through 1967. Beginning with 1968 expirations, VFW and DAV plates could have up to seven character serial numbers, and letters in positions other than the organizational prefix were no longer used. I don't know exactly which year the DAV first had 1,000 members' vehicles registered.

Midway through the life of the 1971 base plate, Firemen's Association reserved passenger series plates in the format FD 0000 were recalled, and replaced with new plates in the format [F/D] 00000, with the letters "FD" inside of an embossed maltese cross on the left side of the plate. At the same time, Firemen's Association organizational plates with format 00000 [F/D] with the maltese cross on the right were issued to firefighters' personal trucks, replacing the reserved-series truck plates in format 0000 FD.

Nowadays, these old firefighter organizational plates with the maltese cross are regularly mistaken for plates issued to actual firefighting equipment. But these white on blue plates were only issued to personal vehicles owned by members of the Maryland State Firemen's Association, which is a volunteer firefighters' organization. Official fire department plates from this era were always white on red in color, and had the name of the specific fire department embossed on the plate, to the best of my knowledge.

I've seen sample or prototype 1971 base National Guard organizational plates with an embossed minuteman figure, but I've never seen one of these that was actually issued.

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Organizational member plates from 1976-1987

Starting with the undated red-on-white 1976 base, and continuing with the undated black-on-white 1981 base, Maryland passenger plates were issued with serial format xxx 000. Most organizations that previously had two-letter reserved passenger prefixes readily adapted to the new format. Those not likely to exceed 1,000 registrations used reserved three letter-prefixes, while larger organizations claimed all combinations within a reserved two-letter block. For example, while Lions Club members had the LC 0000 series reserved in the previous format, they now had the LCA 000 through LCZ 000 series reserved. In reality, no organization ever reached the letter Z, but in theory they could have. While the previous format provided 8,999 plate numbers (each series began at 1001), the new format offered 21,978 distinct serial numbers (each series begain at 001; letters I, O, Q, and U were not used as variable letters).

The most significant exception to the conversion to three-letter reserved series passenger plates was the American Legion. This organization was permitted to retain its traditional AL prefix on the 1976 and 1981 bases, so its plates went from being a reserved passenger-format series to a distinct format altogether.

Organizations that previously had distinct formats continued to do so, and a couple of additional organizations received distinct formats on the 1981 base. On both the 1976 and 1981 bases, members of organzations with distinct formats could also register their personal trucks with organizational plates; like other truck plates of this time, organizational truck plates had the word "Truck" embossed along the bottom edge of the plate.

1976-1987 Organizational Member Plates - Reserved Passenger Plate Prefixes


1977 Boumi Temple (Shriners), 1980 Hiram Grand Lodge (Masons), 1980 Knights of Columbus, 1980 Lions Club, 1980 Tall Cedars of Lebanon (Masons), 1986 Knights of Columbus, 1986 Lions Club

On the red on white 1976 base, standard Maryland passenger plates were initially issued up to the late Dxx series, and were eventually issued into the HMx series. On the black on white 1981 base, standard passenger plates were first issued up to the mid Exx series, and ultimately made it up to the KHM series. Some of the reserved-series organizational plates fell within the bounds of the initial range of standard issues, and therefore did not stand out in any way. But a larger number had reserved series that were beyond the intial range, or were even beyond the complete range of standard plates. These organizational plates practially jumped out at me as I traveled the streets and highways of Maryland during the life of these two bases. Today, passenger-format plates with serials beyond the normal issuance range for each of these bases, such as the Lions Club and Tall Cedars of Lebanon plates pictured above, are clearly organizational plates.

At the bottom of this page is a table of passenger plate prefixes that are verified, reported, or suspected to have been reserved for organizational members.

(There were no reserved-series standard format organizational truck plates on the 1976 or 1981 bases.)

1976-1987 Organizational Member Plates - Distinct Formats


1980 American Legion, 1980 Disabled American Veterans (Sells photo / plate), 1978 Firemen's Association personal car, 1980 Firemen's Association personal truck (Sells photo / plate), 1986 American Legion (O'Connor photo / plate), 1986 Elks Association, 1986 National Guard (O'Connor photo / plate), 1982 Veterans of Foreign Wars car, 1986 Veterans of Foreign Wars truck (Casadonte plate)

On both the red letter and black letter plates, the Firemen's Association members' personal car plate format continued unchanged from the previous base, except that the maltese cross figure was no longer hollow. However, on the equivalent personal truck plate, the maltese cross was moved from the right side to the left side. Different placement of the cross was no longer necessary to distinguish truck plates from car plates, because truck plates now had the word "Truck" embossed at the bottom of the plate. Again, these plates are now commonly mistaken for official fire department vehicle plates, especially in the case of the truck plates.

Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars plates also continued their previous formats on the red and white base. The letters DAV and VFW, respectively, were followed by a one-to-four-digit serial number. DAV and VFW plates with three digit serials looked like standard format plates on the red letter base. DAV and VFW truck plates were issued for the first time, and had the word "Truck" embossed on the bottom. On the black letter base, the letters DAV and VFW were made with espeically narrow dies regadless of the number of numeric digits, so that even four digit serials had a space between the letters and numbers.

American Legion plates joined the ranks of distinct format organizational plates on these two bases, keeping the AL prefix, but now issued with a variable number of numeric digits. Trucks were also included, and had a "Truck" legend at the bottom.

Elks Lodge plates switched from reserved-series BEx standard format plates on the red letter base, to distinct format narrow-die ELK series plates on the black letter base, with four digit serials only. National Guard plates switched from reserved-series NGx standard format red letter plates to distinct format black letter plates. The black letter National Guard plates had an embossed minuteman figure on the left, a serial number in format 0000x, and the embossed legend "Nat'l Guard" at bottom center.

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Organizational member and military-related plates from 1987-present

The black on white screened "Maryland" plates were first issued in 1986 with 1987 expirations, and remain the current base as they are considered to be permanent issues. On this base, for the first time, all organizational plates were distinct in appearance from standard-issue plates. There is now no longer such a thing as reserved-series passenger format organizational plates.

With few exceptions, for the first five years or so, all organizational plates were non-graphic and had a seven-character serial format. Each organization was assigned a two-letter or three-letter prefix; the remaining serial characters were numeric. Most had a screened legend at the bottom identifying the organization.

In the early 1990s, the state began issuing graphic organizational plates for those groups who requested them. Most did. Many holders of non-graphic organizational plates traded them for the fancier variety as they became available. At about the same time, Maryland apparently loosened the requirements for organizations to obtain their own plates, and since then there has been a virtual explosion of available Maryland organizational plates, numbering well over 700 different types. The current rule is that an organization only needs 25 members (presumably with vehicles registered in Maryland) to qualify. Also, several graphic military-related plates were made available; these require no organizational affiliation other than the appropriate military service.

Organizational motorcycle plates began to be made available as well, although only for certain organizations that are either motorcycle-related, or that are large enough to have a significant motorcycle-riding contingent. Most military-related plates are available in motorcycle versions.

1987-Present Organizational Member Plates - Non-Graphic and Minimally Graphic

1996 American Legion (O'Connor photo / plate), 1987 Firemen's Association personal vehicle (O'Connor photo / plate), 1991 Fraternal Order of Police, 1990 United Auto Workers Local 239

In the early years of the script "Maryland" base plate, organizational plates were mostly non-graphic, and were in the formats xx00000 or xxx0000, with the letters uniquely identifying the organization. A few new organizations were given their own plates in addition to the traditional groups that had had organizational plates on the previous all-embossed bases. The name of the organization was usually screened on the bottom center of the plate. Some groups chose not to clearly identify themselves on the plate; these tended to be ethnic-based or police-related groups, who wanted their members to be able to recognize each other on the road, but did not want their vehicles to become targets for individuals who had something against their group.

Two organizations were issued what I call minimally-graphic organizational plates in the early years of the script base. These were the same two that had had embossed graphics on the previous base - the Firemen's Association and the National Guard. These minimal graphics were all-black and were screened onto the plate. Early-issue firefighter personal vehicle plates had the familiar maltese cross logo, with the letters "F/D" inside the center of the cross, but considered part of the serial number. Early National Guard plates had a screened minuteman silhouette, and later a screened line drawing of a minuteman. The other distinction is that these early National Guard plates had the letters "N/G" stacked on the right side of the numeric serial.

Today, a small number of groups have stuck with the non-graphic plates. Possible reasons include the additional anomynity the non-graphic plates provide, the organization not having a suitable logo or other graphic design, and economics, as the graphic plates cost more to register.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1300 (unstickered front plate), Classified Employees Association (unstickered front plate), Concerns of Police Survivors, Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company, Elks Association, Firemen's Association, Baltimore City Fire Officers Association, Fraternal Order of Police D.C. Lodge (unstickered front plate), Fraternal Order of Police Maryland Lodge, Hiram Grand Lodge (Masons), Teamsters Union, Johns Hopkins University Alumni Association, Law Enforcement Officers, La Leche League, Marking the Millennium (unstickered front plate; actual organization name unknown), James M. Bryan, Jr. Building Dreams for Youth Foundation ("Maryland's Eastern Shore"), Mount St. Joseph High School Alumni Association, Northwestern University Alumni Association, Porsche Club of America (unstickered front plate), Police Dispatchers, Partnership for Animal Welfare ("Spay and Neuter"), International Association of Fire Fighters ("Professional Firefighters"), Penn State Alumni Association, Association of Realtors (year sticker removed), Anne Arundel County Reserve Officers, Frank J. Battaglia Signal 13 Foundation, St. Mary's College Alumni Association, Saltwater Sportfishermen's Association, Turkey Point Light Station (unstickered front plate), University of Maryland Alumni Association, University of North Carolina Alumni Association (unstickered front plate), Veterans of Foreign Wars (unstickered front plate)
Notice the low serial number on the Signal 13 Foundation plate!

Fraternal Order of Police D.C. Lodge, Association of Realtors, and Turkey Point Light Station plates are from my personal collection.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1300, Porsche Club of America, and Teamsters Union photos and plates are from the collection of and courtesy of Xavier Hadjadj. All other plates pictured above are "candid" photos of plates in actual use.

Beginning in the early 1990s, graphic organizational plates began to appear, for old as well as new organizations. At about the same time, it seemed that every obscure organization or cause or interest group in the world was now able to get their own Maryland plate. Lots of individual fire stations and church congregations and labor union locals now offer their own specific organizational plates. The number of different groups with their own plates now number well over 700. Shown above is a representative sampling of available graphic plates.

The formats of graphic organizational plates generally follow the pattern of a screened image of the organization's logo on the left side of the plate, followed by two or three stacked letters (which are considered part of the serial), uniquely identifying the organization, followed by a three or four digit serial number. Formats x/x 000, x/x 0000, and x/x/x 0000 are used. Generally, format x/x/x 000 is not used because these serials would conflict with those of regular passenger plates. However, there are a few organizations that do have this format because they use at least one serial letter not issued on standard plates (I, O, Q, or U). Usually, the name of the group is screened along the bottom edge of the plate. Firemen's Association plates continue the [F/D] 00000 format first used in the early 1970s.

Some of the plates pictured above may at first glance appear to be special interest plates; for example, the "Maryland's Eastern Shore" and "Spay and Neuter" plates. But they are indeed all organizational. The distribution of organizational plates are actually controlled by the organizations themselves, using whatever criteria they want. Some groups only offer their special plates to their members or employees. Some charitable groups will authorize the issuance of plates to people who have first made a donation directly to the group. In the case of the Eastern Shore plate above, this plate is controlled by the James M. Bryan, Jr. Building Dreams for Youth Foundation. Apparently this charitable group realized that perhaps not many people would want to pay for the privilege of displaying plates with the organization's name and logo, and that they could raise more money by offering a more appealing design that doesn't identify the group itself.

Maryland only offers two true special interest plates that are avaialable to anyone, directly through the Motor Vehicle Administration - the well known Treasure the Chesapeake (in old and new versions) and Our Farms, Our Future plates. These plates are of a completely different design than the standard-issue plates. While these plates are used to raise money for specific organizations, the MVA collects the money from the registrant and distributes it to the groups after the plates are issued. Also, these special interest plates are issued in different serial formats for use on trailers and by handicapped persons, for example, and are also available as vanity plates. Sample versions of these plates are also available to the general public. None of this is applicable to organizational plates.   (Note: some of the plates shown in the links in this paragraph are not from my collection.)

The best source of detailed information about current Maryland organizational plates is the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration's web site. The section covering current organizational and military-related plates contains a comprehensive listing of all available plates, and for each one, shows the name of the organization and a digital image of that group's plate. However, please note that the MVA site provides no information about obsolete non-graphic organizational plates that were previously issued on the script "Maryland" base. Also, although the information is generally accurate, I have spotted a few errors.

1987-Present Military-Related Plates

Southwest Asia Service Medal recipient, Honorably Discharged Veteran (candid photos of plates in actual use)

Maryland has decided it should also issue various military-related plates to military verterans and medal recipients. These look just like organizational plates; the main difference is how you qualify to get a set. No organizational membership is required; you just have to be able to show that you qualify for the specific plates you want based on your military service record.

1987-Present Organizational Member and Military-Related Plates - Motorcycle

Firemen's Association motorcycle plate (plate in actual use); Harley Owners Group Fort Washington Chapter motorcycle plate (Pang photo of plate in actual use); ABATE of Maryland, Inc. motorcycle plate (Sallmen photo of plate in actual use)

A number of groups have arranged for Maryland to issue graphic organizational motorcycle plates to their members. These plates have the organization's logo on the left side of the plate, and the organization's name screened at the bottom edge of the plate. Serial numbers are in the formats 0000 x/x or 0000 x/x/x, with the stacked suffix letters unique to each organization, and the same letters as used on the full-sized plates.

Known organizations with motorcycle plates include the various chapters of the Harley Owners Group (each with its own suffix), various other motorcycle clubs, the state organization and various locals of the International Association of Fire Fighters union (again, each with its own suffix), the Maryland State Firemen's Association, the state lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Vietnams Veterans of America.

All miltary-related full-sized plate types have an equivalent military-related motorcycle plate, with the exception of the World War II Veteran plate. These look just like organizational motorcycle plates; the main difference is how you qualify to get one. No organizational membership is required; you just have to be able to show that you qualify for the specific plate you want based on your military service record.

1987-Present Organizational and Military-Related Sample Plates

Samples of various organizational plates have been observed, but these are very difficult to obtain. Very few are made, and these are not given out to the general public. Typically, these plates have the normal logo and alpha prefix or suffix for the appropriate plate, but all of the numeric digits are zero.

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Table of Maryland Organizational Member Plates, 1954-1987

The following table lists information about organizations that had their own Maryland license plates prior to 1987. There have been many hundreds of additional groups that have been issued plates since 1987, and I'm not going to even pretend to keep up with them all. Current Maryland organizational plates are listed on the Maryland MVA web site.

Although I can personally vouch for much of the information on this table, there are still bound to be omissions, inaccuracies, and downright wrong information. If you can provide any additional or clarifying information, please send me an e-mail.

Organization Name	1954-1975 Format(s)	1976-1987 Format(s)	Notes
Standard passenger plates	xx 0000	xxx 000
Ali Ghan Temple (Shriners)	AG 0000	AGx 000
American Legion	AL 0000	AL 0, AL 00, AL 000, AL 0000	Also issued to trucks, 1976-1987; these have embossed "Truck" at the bottom
B'nai B'rith (Jewish)	BN 0000	BNx 000
Boumi Temple (Shriners)	BB 0000	BBx 000
Civil Air Patrol		CAP 000
Maryland State Dental Association		DDS 000
Disabled American Veterans	DAV 0, DAV 00, DAV 000, DAV0000	DAV 0, DAV 00, DAV 000, DAV0000, DAV 0000	Also issued to trucks, 1976-1987; these have embossed "Truck" at the bottom
Elks Lodge (B.P.O.E.)	BE 0000	BEx 000 (1976-1980), ELK 0000 (1981-1987)
Maryland State Firemen's Association (volunteer firefighters)	FD 0000, [F/D] 00000	[F/D] 00000	These formats issued to private passenger cars
Maryland State Firemen's Association (volunteer firefighters)	0000 FD (?), 00000 [F/D]	[F/D] 00000	These formats issued to private trucks; 1976-1987 plates have embossed "Truck" at the bottom
Fraternal Order of Police	FP 0000	FPx 000
Hiram Grand Lodge (Masons)	HG 0000	HGx 000
Holy Name Society (Catholic)		HNA 000 (?)	See Note 1 below
Jerusalem Temple (Shriners)	BJ 0000	BJx 000
Knights of Columbus (Catholic)	CC 0000, KC 0000 (?)	KCx 000	See Note 2 below
Lions Club	LC 0000	LCx 000
Masons - Free State Square Club	EE 0000, EF 0000	EEx 000	"Free State Square Club" is an umbrella group for Maryland Masons
National Guard		NGx 000 (1976-1980), ± 0000x (1981-1987)	1981 base had an embossed minuteman in the "±" position, and embossed legend "Nat'l Guard" at the bottom
Optimist Club	FB 0000	FBx 000
Maryland Pharmaceutical Association		RXx 000
Maryland Press Club	MP 0000	MPx 000
Prince George's County Council		PGC 000	Issued in very small quantities; however, I did actually see one of these on the road at the time.
Prince Hall (Masons)	FM 0000	FMx 000
Maryland Psychological Association		PSY 000
Rotary International	RI 0000	RIx 000	See Note 3 below
Tall Cedars of Lebanon (Masons)	BF 0000	TCx 000
Veterans of Foreign Wars	VFW 0, VFW 00, VFW 000, VFW 00x, VFW 0x0, VFW x00, VFW0000	VFW 0, VFW 00, VFW 000, VFW0000, VFW 0000	Also issued to trucks, 1976-1987; these have embossed "Truck" at the bottom
Yedz Grotto (Masons)	BG 0000	BGx 000
unknown organization		JEA 000

Note 1: Black on white plates in series HNA through HNE were issued out of sequence during mid-1980, partway through the first year of what I refer to as the 1981 base. It has been stated by some knowledgeable collectors that these were organizational plates for the Holy Name Society, which is a Catholic organization. Indeed, the Holy Name Society does have its own plates in format HNA0000 on the current screened "Maryland" base. But, but, but... I personally knew a Mormon girl whose Mormon father bought her a car in August 1980, and the plates issued to that car were in the HNE 000 series. The HNA-HNE prefixes were just beyond the HMx series that was the highest actually issued on the red and white 1976 base. Also, a plate collector familiar with the Holy Name Society tells me that it's a very small organization that would have never been able to support 5,000 member vehicle registrations in 1980. So, it is my theory that the HNA to HNE series plates were actually leftover 1976 bases, that had been stamped but never distributed, and were then painted black on white and issued as 1981 bases. Or perhaps both were partly true - perhaps the HNA series plates were organizational, and the HNB through HNE plates were leftovers. We may never know for sure, unless someone can provide additional information about these plates.

Note 2: KC 0000 has been reported as a Knights of Columbus organizational plate format during the years 1954-1975, but I have my doubts. KC series plates were issued through 1961 expirations, when only letters A through L were used for passenger plates, and sequentially-issued passenger plates did get up into the Lx series. During expiration years 1962-1970, letters A through Z were used for passenger plates, and sequentially-issued passenger plates didn't get past the Jx series during any of these years. During this time, no KC series plates were issued. This leads me to believe that KC series plates were just regular passenger plates, not organizational plates. Either that, or the Knights of Columbus switched from KC to CC somewhere along the way. On the 1971 base, which was used for five years, passenger plates got up to the SC series. I don't recall having seen a KC series plate on the 1971 base, but they may very well exist as regular passenger plates. Format CC 0000 is verified as a Knights of Columbus organizational plate during the two-letter years, as is format KCx 000 during the three-letter years.

Note 3: In 1979, a fellow college student I knew bought, or had bought for her, a used car. New 1976-base Maryland plates with natural 1980 expiraitons were issued to this car; the registration number was in the RIG 000 series. I asked her whether she or any family members were associated with the Rotary Club, and she responded that they were not. She had no idea how she ended up with RIG series plates. Apparently, the MVA office where the car was registered had more reserved-series Rotary plates stockpiled than they were going to be able to use before the 1976 base was replaced in 1980, and/or they had run out of regular passenger plates, so they began issuing reserved-series Rotary plates to people not associated with the Rotary Club. The sequential high on this base was somewhere in the HMx series, and the letter "I" has never been used on plates intended for standard issue (with the exception of 1987-1988 charter buses).

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Related links

Other Maryland organizational member license plates on the web
Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration - Specialty Plates section
Andrew Pang's License Plates - Maryland License Plates section
The Plate Shack - Maryland section by Marc Welby
The Plate Shack Y2K+ License Plates - Page 1  Page 2  by Mike Sells
The License Plate Gallery - Maryland Organizational, Government & Optional Issue Plates page  by Tim O'Connor

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