In 1930 (or thereabouts), what documents were required to get a driver's license?

Question

What if someone was born out in the country and didn't have a birth certificate or any other type of identification? Did you just go to the licensing office and give them your name and address?

Answer 1

The first drivers' licence of sorts was issued to the inventor of the modern automobile, Karl Benz, in 1888. Because the noise and smell of his Motorwagen resulted in complaints by the citizens of Mannheim, Benz requested and received written permission by the Grand Ducal authorities to operate his car on public roads.

Up until the start of the 20th century, European authorities issued drivers' licences similarly ad hoc, if at all. The first country to require a mandatory driver's license and testing was Prussia, on 29 September 1903. The Dampfkesselüberwachungsverein ("steam boiler supervision association") was charged with conducting the tests, which were mainly concerned with the drivers' mechanical aptitude. In 1910, the German imperial government mandated the licencing of drivers on a national scale, establishing a system of tests and driver's education requirements that would serve as a template for the licencing laws of other countries.

As automobile-related fatalities soared in North America, public outcry provoked legislators to begin studying the French and German statutes as models. On August 1, 1910, North America's first driver's licensing law went into effect in the U.S. state of New York, though it initially applied only to professional chauffeurs. In July 1913, the state of New Jersey became the first to require all drivers to pass a mandatory examination before receiving a license.

Answer 2

In the rural areas, everyone knew everyone. My dad or mom never had to take a driver's test. They just had to say they knew how to drive.  

Answer 3

You would have to find out what the individual state laws at that time were.  My father was an American but he didn't have to have anything to get a driver's license.  There was no test to take or anything.  He was born in 1912 so he probably got his license the first year they required one.  He didn't need one for several years.