All About the Drop

There is arguably no greater hallmark to the end of the year than Times Square's celebratory ball drop, but when did we start dropping balls from the sky to signify the end of a calendar year? Taking a look back through Times Square's history, the tradition actually began without a ball at all. 1904 marks the year of the first ever celebration in New York City's Times Square. According to timessquarenyc.org, the celebration was less about the end of the year, but rather a celebration of the official opening of The New York Times headquarters in Longacre Square. At the time, the new Times building was the second tallest building in the city (if you include its four sub-basements housing the heavy printing equipment) and the owner, German immigrant Adolph Ochs, lobbied the city to change the name of Longacre Square to a namesake of the New York Times. To celebrate its opening, Ochs organized an all-day street festival, a fireworks display at the base of Times Tower and joyful cheering from over 200,000 attendees at the stroke of midnight. After Och's party for the ages, Times Square became "the" place to celebrate the new year. Two years later, New York City banned the fireworks display, leading Ochs to search for a new solution for a grand display of lights. Likely inspired by the time-ball atop the Western Union Building on Broadway—or perhaps the world's first time-ball in Greenwich in 1833—Och organized the creation of the original Times Square time-ball; a 700-pound iron and wood ball illuminated with 100 25-watt lightbulbs built by metalworker Jacob Starr. The time-ball made its first descent at the end of 1907 and the beginning of 1908, lowered by hand by six sign workers with ropes. By 1914, the newspaper company outgrew its home and moved to West 43rd Street, but Times Square's iconic celebration had already made a permanent impression. In 1920, the original time-ball was replaced with a lighter, 400-pound ball made of wrought iron. Throughout the years the ball got lighter, with a 150-pound ball made of aluminum replacing the iron ball in 1955. The aluminum ball lasted until the 1980s when the "I Love New York" campaign converted the ball to an apple with red lights and a green stem. The apple lasted from 1981 to 1988 when it returned to its original glowing white. The ball received many upgrades in the year 1995 with aluminum skin, rhinestones, strobes and computer controls but it only lasted until 1998. Each new edition, as technology has progressed, resulted in a brighter, more impressive time-ball. The time-ball was completely redesigned for the start of the new millennium by Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting who were also responsible for its redesign in 2007, the 100th anniversary of the drop. With the latest design, the permanent "Big Ball" sits atop One Times Square (the same building Ochs started the tradition at) and can be seen year-round. The ball is a geodesic sphere weighing nearly six tons and measuring 12 feet in diameter. It is covered in 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles which are illuminated by 32,256 Philips Luxeon LED lights. Some fun facts from timessquareball.net gave insight to things I have never known about the iconic sphere. Albeit meticulous, each crystal triangle has a special pattern. Groupings of 192 triangles each symbolize the Gift of Love, Gift of Wisdom, Gift of Happiness, Gift of Goodwill, Gift of Harmony, Gift of Serenity, Gift of Kindness, Gift of Wonder, and Gift of Fortitude all with their own symbolic designs. If you've done the math, you'll notice this doesn't account for all the crystals. The remaining 960 triangles are devoted to the Gift of Imagination. The ball signifies far more than the start of the new year; it welcomes universal aspirations for the upcoming months. Each year the ball has a central theme of one of these "gifts". The House of Waterford Crystal writes on their blog (waterfordvisitorcentre.com/blog) that Waterford Crystal will continue this series of aspirations. The ball has descended every year since 1907 with the exception of 1942 and 1943 during the wartime "dimout" of World War II. Still, crowds gathered in the square and welcomed in the new year. This year's drop will mark the 116th anniversary of the tradition. Hundreds of thousands of people will gather in Times Square and wait in the chill of New York's winter to witness the ball-lowering. A hundred volunteers will line the rooftops of nearby buildings to throw 3,000 pounds of confetti on the onlookers. At home, an estimated one billion people worldwide will tune in to witness the event. Our voices in unison shout, "Ten. . . nine. . . eight. . ."