History of DMV

Oregon has relied on its Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) since 1905, shortly after automobiles began arriving around the turn of the century. The Oregon DMV first began testing and licensing drivers in the 1930s under the watchful eyes of bonafide badge-carrying driver examiners.

Automobiles and driving have changed a lot since then, and Oregon's DMV and the state's lawmakers have adjusted the state's oversight of its highways and byways. The state's transportation history lives on, thanks largely to a preservation movement that took place during the late 1980s.

Now made up of 64 locations throughout the state, the Oregon DMV serves more than 13,000 citizens and provides more than 30,000 records to law enforcement every day. For the state's drivers and vehicle owners, the Oregon DMV, part of the Oregon Department of Transportation, responds to some 3 million record requests every year.

Oregon's history is forever ingrained in the rivers and mountains that run and rise across the state, home to the end of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Oregon Trail, and continental waterways of the Willamette and Columbia rivers that flow to the Pacific.

Much of the state's motoring history is also accessible today on the Internet, with a number of historical photographs of the state's many bridges, ferries, highway equipment, road construction, people, and more provided online.

While historic license plates, correspondence, other historic photographs and records are located at the DMV headquarters in Salem, many other interesting images, historic forms, and other items are also provided online:

• Old manuals and exams

• Examiner's badges

• License plates

• Historic registration forms

With resources such as the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) Museum and Oregon Trail Display, Oregon's DMV now also regulates about 4,300 driver and vehicle related businesses. It runs and conducts hundreds of inspections and investigations for law enforcement and Oregon residents.