When I was a kid my brother & I got our first 10-speeds, Schwinn Varsity bikes with 24" wheels. We dutifully rode to the police station and each purchased a bike license. I think it was 50 cents in 1976.

The city didn't exactly get a lot of revenue out of it, but the term "license" wasn't properly applied. It was basically a registration in case of theft.

I went to college in Missoula, Montana and had a Japanese Bianchi Special at the time. I had it locked up outside the dorm for a few days when I first arrived my freshman year and someone went around putting obnoxious orange stickers on bikes informing you that the city requires you to have a bike license, which I never bought. It wasn't easy to get that off the frame.