Reddit reviews Rhode Island Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff (Curiosities Series)
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According to this book, "when Rhode Island first issued license plates, the number 1 plate was given to a Dr. Rowland Robinson, in gratitude for his brother's (senator Benjamin Robinson) help in passing an automobile-registration bill." It has remained in the family's hands from 1904 to the present. It was on a Cadillac as of 2014.
The Governor's #1 plate has shields and looks like this.
As for Buddy's #1 plate, here's how he tells the story in "Politics and Pasta":
"I saw a wonderful opportunity the day I drove through the Public Works garage and spotted a city vehicle with the Providence license plate '1' on it. Traditionally, the governor of Rhode Island had plate number 1, the mayor of Providence was given the license plate 10,000, while the mayor of the state's second-largest city, Warwick, got 20,000. Number 1, I liked that. It must have been assigned to Public Works about the time Henry Ford first mass-produced cars. I told my driver to stop the car, get the plate, and put it on my car. To make it look even more official, my communications director attached two city shields to it."
This is a "City" plate and looks like this. The current mayor still has it. I think there was some sort of court case over this 20 some odd years ago...
A little more on low numbers: "In 1904, when Rhode Island issued its first license plates, passenger plate #1 went to politically connected Dr. Rowland Robinson of Wakefield and #2 went to businessman Joshua C. Tucker, owner of the Narragansett Pier Company. Tucker also was issued plate #33 and commercial license plate #X2, the second commercial plate in the state. Prominent Westerly resident E. R. Lewis was given plate #41 and the earliest commercial plate in Westerly, #X28, went to Albert B. Smith. In Wickford, the first passenger plate was issued to one of the village’s wealthiest residents, Charles Boyer Reynolds, and its first commercial plate, #X49, went to farmer J. W. Tingley." - The View From Swamptown: Automobiles forever changed South County.
There's also an Ex-POW #1.
And one for the House Speaker Emeritus.