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When we think of celebrating New Year’s Eve in New York City, we think of the crowds in Times Square gathering to watch the ball drop. However, the annual celebration wasn’t always held there, and it didn’t always involve the dropping of a ball. Prior to Times Square becoming the place to be when ringing in the new year, the annual celebration occurred outside of Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan. In 1846, Trinity Church was built for the third time and had a full octave of bells in the belfry. The bells that literally rang in the new year were joined by the cacophony of tin horns in 1885.

Source: (New York Public Library/colorized).

However, in 1904, when the new headquarters of The New York Times opened, Adolph Ochs, the newspaper’s owner, convinced the city to rename Longacre Square after the newspaper. At the time, Times Tower at the intersection of 7th Avenue, Broadway, and 42nd Street was the second tallest building in New York when measured from the bottom of the four sub-basements, which housed the printing equipment. That first New Year’s Eve celebration in what had become Times Square began with a street celebration that lasted all day. The celebration ended with a firework display rather than bells to ring in the new year; it was said that the noise made by the more than 200,000 attendees as midnight arrived could be heard as far as 30 miles north of the city in Croton-on-Hudson. With the success of the party in Times Square, Trinity Church lost its honor as the place to welcome in the new year.

Why They Started Dropping The Ball

Source: (New York Public Library).

The next major change happened in 1907 after the city banned the fireworks. They needed to come up with something else spectacular, and the newspaper’s chief electrician, Walter F. Palmer, suggested using a time ball. Time balls were not a New York original, as they got their start at England’s Royal Observatory in Greenwich in 1833, where they dropped daily at one o’clock. This daily ball drop allowed nearby ships to precisely set their chronometers, instruments that were used to navigate. In New York, The Western Union Company on Lower Broadway helped people to adjust their wind-up clocks to real-time daily, as they dropped a metallic ball from a spire on top of their building at noon. Ships in the harbor could also see the ball drop.

Designing The Ball

New Year's Eve outside Trinity Church. Source: (Pinterest).

The first New Year’s Eve ball was designed by Jacob Starr, an immigrant metal worker. It weighed 700 pounds and was five feet in diameter. Decorated with 100 25-watt lightbulbs, it was made of iron and wood. The company that was responsible for lowering the ball, Artkraft Strauss, employed a team of six men to hoist the ball onto the 70-foot flagpole.

The Waiters Joined In The Celebration

When it became Times Square. Source: (The Bowery Boys).

At the time, Times Square was surrounded by “lobster palaces” and hotels with deluxe restaurants. The waiters in these eateries wore battery-powered top hats which were decorated with lightbulbs to create the numbers 1908. At midnight, when the 1908 on the parapet of Times Tower lit up, the waiters “flipped their lids” to reveal the New Year’s lights on their hats.

Despite Changes, The Ball Still Drops

Times Square at the turn of the century. Source: (onceuponatown.tumblr/colorized)

The New York Times moved to a new building in 1914, but Times Square kept its name, along with the annual celebration. The New York Times continued to own the building until 1961 when they sold it to Douglas Leigh who stripped the building down to its steel frame and reclad it in white marble; after this, it became the headquarters for the Allied Chemical Corporation. It still stands on an isolated triangle of land and is called One Times Square. In 1920, the original ball was replaced with a lighter ball made of wrought iron, weighing in at only 400 pounds.

From the first ball drop in 1907 on, it has fallen every year, with two notable exceptions: In 1942 and 1943, they did not drop the ball because of dim-outs arising from fears of Axis bombings, but crowds still gathered in Times Square to celebrate. They observed a moment of silence immediately before midnight; this was followed by the sound of church bells broadcast from sound trucks.

The First New Year's Eve Ball Drop In Times Square

Why They Started Dropping The Ball

Designing The Ball

The Waiters Joined In The Celebration

Despite Changes, The Ball Still Drops