History of the Times Square Ball

Blogger: Amber Lemus

7th Times Square Ball
Photo Credit: Jtalvy, CC0, CC

 The dropping of the ball in Times Square has become a New Years icon. This year will make new history for the Times Square Ball, because it will drop twice. The second time in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. 

Since we have new history being made with the ball drop, I thought it would be fun to explore the origins of the celebration that has become so well-known across the globe as a symbol of New York City and the USA.

The New Years celebration in Times Square had begun in 1904 as a way to celebrate and promote the newly finished headquarters of the New York Times newspaper building. The festivities were a hit, but after a few years of fireworks celebrations, the owner of the New York Times, Adolph Ochs, decided he wanted something bigger. It was the idea of the company's chief electrician to build a "time ball" after seeing one used elsewhere. In 1907, Ochs commissioned the Artkraft Strauss company to construct the ball. A young Russian immigrant by the name of Jacob Starr, built the ball out of iron and wood, then adorned it with one hundred 25-watt bulbs. The finished ball was five feet in diameter and weighed a whopping seven hundred pounds. It thrilled the spectators at the 1907-1908 New Years festivities in Times Square. 

Since then, the ball has been lowered every year, except for 1942 and 1943 due to WWII blackouts.

The Millennial Ball (2000)
Photo by: Hunter Kahn (Public Domain) 

In total, there have been nine versions of the ball:

• The original, built in 1907. 
  
  
• A version made entirely of wrought iron with replaced the original in 1920. 
  
  
• A lighter version made of aluminum replaced the four-hundred pound wrought iron ball in 1950. This version weighed only one-hundred-fifty pounds and remained until the 1980's.
   
• In the 80's, the "I Love New York" advertising campaign had launched, so a new ball with red lights and a green stem to look like an apple was installed and remained from 1981-1988.   
  
  
• After 1988, a more traditional ball with the white lights returned. 
  
  
• In 1995, technological updates were made to the ball to include an aluminum skin, rhinestones, strobes and computer controls. 
  
  
• The birth of a new century in 1999-2000 demanded a new ball. It was completely redesigned, this time a crystal ball with the very latest lighting technology combined with traditional materials. 
  
  
• 2007 brought the 100 year anniversary of the New York Times ball drop, so again, updates were made to the ball. The incandescent bulbs were replaced with LED, which gave the ball color capabilities and increased brightness. This one is known as the Centennial Ball. 
  
  
• The owners of One Times Square were inspired by the beauty of the Centennial Ball to create a permanent one that was visible year-round. This new, permanent version is known as the Big Ball and is made of crystal triangles and over thirty-two-thousand LEDs. It weighs nearly six tons.

The most recent Times Square Ball
Photo By Alex Lozupone - Own work, CC

However, on New Year's Eve, a NEW version of the ball will be revealed, celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States. If the celebration's reputation continues, it will be a spectacle to be seen. 

The notoriety of the ball drop has inspired many kinds of "drops" around the world. Sometimes balls, like in Times Square, and other times cultural objects such as the Bermuda onion. To read more about this, you can check out the Wikipedia page here. 

Have you ever been to the Ball Drop in NYC? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. 

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Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award, Amber Lemus writes enthralling non-fiction for children and adults alike. She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior, so her writing is centered around faith, family and history.

She lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains with her prince charming and two boys. Between enjoying life as a boy mom, and spinning stories out of soap bubbles, Amber loves to connect with readers and hang out on Goodreads with other bookish peoples.

Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at www.AmberLemus.com/ and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!