The First Ever Times Square Ball Drop Was Held Atop the New York Times Headquarters in 1907, Starting a Cherished Tradit

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The First Ever Times Square Ball Drop Was Held Atop the New York Times Headquarters in 1907, Starting a Cherished Tradition

Time balls date back to the early 19th century, when they signaled the time to passing sailors. Now they’re part of the pomp and circumstance of the new year


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-first-ever-times-square-ball-drop-was-held-atop-the-new-york-times-headquarters-on-this-day-in-1907-starting-a-cherished-tradition-180985753/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_term=12312024&utm_content=new

Eli Wizevich History Correspondent
December 31, 2024 5:00 a.m.
Crowds gather for New Year's Eve in 1938
By the time this crowd gathered on New Year's Eve, 1938, the Times Square ball drop had been an annual rite for decades Bettman / Getty Images

One Times Square, the billboard-covered building at the intersection of Broadway, Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, is the definitive place where one year passes into the next.

Each year, thousands of people pack around the building to watch the Times Square ball slowly descend a pole marking the New Year—a beloved tradition that began on this day in 1907. Viewers, including almost a billion watching on television, witness a glittering spectacle, sponsored by companies angling to cash in on New Year’s resolutions.

The fanfare in Times Square began 120 years ago. Adolph Simon Ochs, the publisher and owner of the New York Times, wanted to increase publicity for his paper’s new headquarters at One Times Square. So, as 1904 passed into 1905, workers launched a pyrotechnic show from the building.

“From base to dome,” the Times wrote, “the giant structure was alight—a torch to usher in the new born, a funeral pyre for the old which pierced the very heavens.”

The fireworks only lasted two more years. In 1907, Ochs hired sign maker and advertiser Artkraft Strauss to build an iron and wood ball weighing 700 pounds, five feet in diameter and covered in 100 lightbulbs..............................





It’s not even 9am and there is already drama with the people waiting for NYE in Times Square 🙈

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