it was probably a white letter tire that someone drove against the curb for a very long time. the white inlay on either a whitewall or a white letter tire goes all the way around the tire and is normally a couple of inches wide
dates on tires, they have a code: the last three numbers on tires prior to 2000 tells the year and week example 399 39 represents the week of the year and the 9 is the year [1999] in 2000 it was changed to 4 numbers. example 2308 would be the 23 week and 08 would be the year 2008
hope this helps