Origin of the Remarkable Times Square Ball Drop

In 1903, The New York Times moved into the corner of 43rd Street and Broadway at One Times Square. The move was a sign of the paper’s recent growth under the leadership of Adolph S. Ochs. What we now call Times Square would be known as Longacre Square until April 8th of 1904 (when the city approved Ochs’ renaming request), but Ochs was already ready to celebrate! On December 31, 1903, he commissioned a fireworks display to take place atop the newspaper’s new home. Over 200,000 people attended, establishing an annual New Year’s Eve tradition.

Yet, after just four short years, Ochs wanted something more grand than fireworks to continue to drive people to Times Square each year. It is believed that he recalled a common sailor reference to “time balls,” which were originally invented by Robert Wauchope in 1829. Wauchope’s invention was used by the British Royal Navy to “calibrate their on-board time keep devices against the clock in the harbor.” Radio signals made them obsolete in the 1920s.

Though Ochs originated the idea, the Times’ chief electrician Walter F. Palmer executed on it, creating the first Times time ball, which was lowered from the Times’ rooftop flagpole. Palmer’s creation was made of iron and wood, lit with one hundred 25-watt bulbs, weighing 700 pounds and measuring 5 feet in diameter.

The ball was first lowered on December 31, 1907, though it was a bit late to the party (dropped one second after midnight). Despite the Banker’s Crisis of 1907, the crowd Ochs had desired turned out - “men in silk hats and women in furs.” The following day, The New York Sun reported,

“An acrobat could hardly have managed to fall down for a wager, so tightly did the people hold each other up.”

And from the very beginning, it was loud! The correspondent sent from the Chicago Daily Tribune recalled,

“Trombones that yowled like a cat in torture, a combination of cowbells and streetcar gongs, tin horns with a double register.”

May the trombones, bells, gongs, and horns continue to ring as more than a century later, millions usher in 2013 by watching the Times ball drop. Happy New Year to all!

To learn more:

Read more accounts of December 31, 1907 in “When an Auld Acquaintance Was Brand New,” by Jim Rasenberger.

The New York Times quickly outgrew its One Times Square office under Ochs continued leadership, moving again to space just off Times Square in 1913.

The Times Ball has been upgraded six times since Palmer’s original creation. From 1981 to 1988, the ball actually became a lit apple!

The ball to usher in 2013 will have 288 new crystal panels with doves chiseled into them to mark the theme “Let There Be Peace.” The current ball has a total of 2,668 panels.