In Mass. when they first started weight class licence in the late 60's, anything over 10,000 needed a class 2 and anything with air brakes or articulated needed a class 1, nothing to do with commercial.
I have had a class 1 since the 70's but somewhere later they changed to class A,B CDL's starting at 27,000 or something. Mine changed to a class A when I renewed it sometime in the 90's I think.