After watching a Broadway show yesterday, I walked with my sister down to Union Square. I, admittedly, told her that I couldn’t come up with any ideas on an article relating to New Year’s Eve and just a second later she told me, “How about you write about the history of the Ball Drop?” Without even a second of reflection, I instantly thought of doing it. So, all of the credit for this article goes to you, Krystal.
It is kind of odd how watching the ball drop has become such an ingrained part of New York City’s culture. New Year’s Eve simply would not be the same if we didn’t have thousands of civilians crowded together in Times Square, straining their necks as they spend what seems to be an eternity watching a ball descend down. New Yorkers have done this for over a hundred years and the chances are good that we’ll probably do it for another hundred more.
However, one question still remains: how did we start this tradition? Did an alien drop a ball on New Year’s Eve a long, long time ago? Or perhaps it was Donald Trump, since he’d never allow an alien to commit such an act? Maybe it was Christopher Columbus? Or maybe my sister is in alliance with the creator of this tradition as some sort of humongous undercover marketing scheme?
In fact, it was the then-owner of The New York Times, Adolph Ochs. He originally started the New Year’s Eve celebration with just fireworks on the rooftop of their then-headquarters, 1 Times Square, as hundreds of thousands of people came to watch. This continued for three years until Ochs decided he wanted an even bigger spectacle to draw more attention to the celebration. The chief electrician of The New York Times was actually the one to suggest using a time ball instead of fireworks.
Time balls were used to tell the time based on the location of the sun and stars. However, they’re all but obsolete in most parts of the world, with notable exceptions like those in Sydney, Quebec City, and New York City.
Adolph Ochs had no problem adopting to this new method of celebrating the holiday. Built from wood and iron and lit with a hundred light bulbs, the first ever Times Square time ball dropped on December 31st, 1907. Even when The New York Times changed its headquarters from 1 Times Square to a location on 43rd Street in 1913, the tradition continued.
Since then, there have been different incarnations of the time ball. In fact, the Times Square Ball that dropped on December 31st, 2015 was the sixth version, built with 32,256 LED lamps and 2,688 crystal panels. This ball has been lighting up the New Year's Eve scene for everyone who comes out to Times Square on a chilly night with their loved ones since 2009.
There have been multiple instances of snow dropping down, rain falling, and near-freezing temperatures on New Year’s Eve. However, it seems not to matter at all. New Yorkers time and time again prove that they will do whatever they can to keep this NYC tradition alive and watch this spectacular ball drop to signal the start of a much, much better year.
Have a happy New Year, everyone!
