Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration
Published May 23, 2011 | 
The year was 1904. What is now Times Square in New York City was known as Longacre Square. New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs, a German Jewish immigrant, devises a scheme. In order to help publicize his paper, he will have the name of the plot of land where the building is located changed to Times Square. His plan works.
At the same time, the people of New York are offered their first chance to travel underground via a new transit mode called the subway. It opens in October of 1904. The influx of people to Times Square gives Ochs an idea. Why not host a Grand Opening celebration like no one has ever seen before? The date of that opening is New Year’s Eve, 1904.
Ochs throws a party complete with fireworks, merriment and vendors. 200,000 party-goers cram the streets outside the Times building. The party is such a success that New Yorkers give up their former favorite New Year’s Eve gathering place, City Hall Park, in favor of Times Square. For the next three years, people gather by the thousands in anticipation of Ochs’ fireworks displays to ring in the New Year.
1n 1907, New York officials decide that the fireworks are too dangerous. They ban Ochs’ use of them in his now widely popular celebration. Ochs, ever the innovator, decides to commission a giant 700-pound ball made of wood and iron. He has the ball strung on one of his building’s flagpoles. Add lights on a grand scale, and Ochs creates the “ball” now known world wide and awaited on New Year’s Eve.
The ball is an orb made of Waterford Crystal. At exactly 11:59 pm, New York time, the ball begins to descend. Ochs lowers the ball each year until World War II forces dim outs in 1942 and 1943. During those two years, the ball remains dark. Instead, celebrants honor the soldiers and the war effort with a moment of silence at midnight. After that, sound trucks in the area ring out with festive noises to bring in the New Year.
The ball has been dropped every year since the interruption of the war. When the Times could no longer fit their staff in their Times Square building, they moved out. But by then, the New Year’s Eve tradition in Times Square had already become a part of the American culture.
Today, billions of people watch the ball come down in Times Square from their televisions. Thousands more gather at the site live to catch the action. Many weddings take place at midnight under the ball and celebrities flock to the scene to perform live for eager crowds.
For 2010, a new ball has been designed that features triangles and a “Let there be Courage” motif. It features a ribbon pattern and a Celtic knot. It was specially designed to stand up to gale force winds and the atmosphere 400 feet above Times Square. Waterford Crystal has now designed a special application for iPhones called “Clink Clink” where users can share a New Year’s Eve toast via Facebook to friends throughout the world. It features two Waterford champagne toasting glasses clinking in a festive tribute to the New Year.
Hello. Would you have, by any chance, any other photos of New Year’s Eve in Times Square? Please post them if you do and please tag them so that they would turn up from a Google search. Thank you very much and have a great day!