History of the New Year's Ball Drop
Every New Years Eve hundreds of thousands of people watch as the New Years ball in New York City drops to the countdown to midnight, the beginning of the new year. This is a tradition that has been around for quite some time, but how did it start?
The History of Time-Balls
Time-balls are a concept that has been around much longer than the start of the tradition in New York City. The British were the first to capitalize on the idea by installing the first ones in England at Portsmouth harbor in 1829 and on top of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833. With Britain being the major naval power of the day one of the biggest issues they faced was keeping time at sea. Normal clocks with pendulums would not work as they require a flat stable surface and time could not be reliably found using a formula based off longitude as there often was not a major landmark to base the measurements off of. Ships instead used a special clock that lacked a pendulum called a chronometer, the only issue was that they had to be reset to the correct time frequently as they did not run accurately for long. That is where the time-balls came in. Every afternoon at one o’clock the balls would drop and nearby ships would be able to see them and accurately set their chronometers.
Time-ball at Greenwich. Courtesy of the Horological Society of New York.
Though the balls were meant to be used by those at sea they also became a popular attraction for the citizens on land. Every afternoon, a crowd of people would form to watch the ball slowly drift down the pole and many would use it to set their own timepieces.
After the success at Greenwich roughly 150 time-balls were installed around the world, mainly at ports and major government buildings. One of the most famous balls was built in 1845 at the US Naval Observatory. This one was a little less precise than its English cousins however. When it was time for the ball to drop someone gave an oral signal and the switch to drop the ball was thrown by hand, the ball then fell and landed on the observatory’s dome and rolled down to the roof below. It is said that John Quincy Adams quite enjoyed walking by to watch the ball drop every day and would set his watch to it.
A time-ball used in Boston. Courtesy of Wikimedia.
As time balls were used more and more a few glaring issues began to show. It was not uncommon for the balls to malfunction and drop before or after they were supposed to, when this occurred a notice was put in the paper to tell people it had fell at the wrong time. Another issue was that since they were made of canvas they would be blown around on particularly windy days which could damage the whole apparatus. By the late 1800s they were on their way out for more precise timekeeping instruments, being mostly relegated to decorative and symbolic roles. Unfortunately only a few survive today and even fewer still work. The only time-ball still actively being used is the one at the United States Naval Observatory, each day the solid ball drops down a flagpole at exactly noon.
Modern time-ball at the US Naval Observatory. Courtesy of the Unites States Naval Observatory.
Despite their lackluster timekeeping abilities they would make a resurgence in popularity thanks to a keen newspaper owner in the early 20th century.
Artist rendition of the time-ball on the Western Union building. Courtesy of Telegraph-History.
New Year's Eve Ball Drop
When Adolph Ochs took over the struggling New York Times newspaper he wanted to change its image and make the company known for extravagance. One of the ways he did this was by throwing huge celebrations, particularly on New Year’s Eve that involved fireworks and lavish parties. Unfortunately a firework ban was put in place in 1907 that hampered his New Year’s plans for 1908 and forced him to come up with a new way to celebrate. Taking inspiration from the old Western Union Telegraph’s time-ball he ordered an illuminated iron and wood ball that would be dropped from the flagpole at Times Tower. The ball was made by an immigrant metal worker named Jacob Starr, it weighed 700 pounds, measured 5 feet in diameter, and was festooned with 100 25-Watt light bulbs. When the ball dropped it was a huge success, and up to today a ball has been dropped every year.
Early picture of the New Years Ball used in Times Square. Courtesy of timesquareball.net.
The only exceptions were the years 1942 and 1943 when the city had to be blacked out due to war conditions. Crowds still gathered during these two years but instead of a ball drop they had a minute of silence, which was then followed by the ringing of chimes from sound trucks. This harkened back to the earlier tradition where people gathered at Trinity Church to “ring out the old, and ring in the new”.
The ball has changed seven times throughout the years. In 1920 the original ball was replaced by a 400 pound one made completely out of wrought iron. In 1955 the ball was replaced again by an all aluminum one that only weighed 150 pounds, this one would remain in service the longest. It stayed the same until the 1980s when officials wanted to change it up for the “I Love New York” marketing Campaign. The white lights were replaced with red ones and it had a green stem added to the top to make it resemble an apple, New York City’s iconic logo. The ball remained this way from 1981 to 1988, afterwards returning to its traditional white lights and plain metal pole. In 1995 the aluminum ball again underwent a redesign and was adorned with rhinestones and strobe lights that could be computer controlled to give spectators a more impressive show.
The New Years Ball looking like an apple. Courtesy of the Associated Press.
For the millennium celebration of Times Square 2000 the Ball was completely remade by Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting. It consisted of 504 Waterford crystals, 168 halogen bulbs, and spinning mirrors, causing a jump in weight from 150 to 1,070 pounds. The combination of new lighting technology with old materials was to be a metaphor, to look back at our past as we gazed into the future that was the new millennium. For the 100th anniversary of the Times Square Ball Drop in 2007 Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting teamed up once again and created a brand new LED crystal ball. The beauty of the Centennial Ball inspired the owners of One Times Square to build the permanent Big Ball that is used today. A nearly six ton glass ball that is made up of 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles and 32,256 LED lights. It measures 12 feet in diameter and that new space is put to good use as the LED lights make the brightest and most elaborate light show seen to date.
Ball used during the millennium celebration. Courtesy of The Atlantic.
The ball is now an attraction in Times Square that can be seen year round. A symbol of time that harkens back to old technology that leads us into the future every year.
The Big Ball seen in 2019 doing an elaborate light show. Courtesy of ReportReplyReview on YouTube.
Personal Thoughts
I like watching the New Years ball drop every year I think it’s fun to watch, especially with all the LED patterns they can do. Time-balls are cool, I think cities should start using them again. Not as a way to really keep time but as a decoration and a thing people can watch. I think it would be cool to have them drop every hour like a clock the rings every hour. I think it would be a cool thing to see more places use.
Sources
https://www.timessquarenyc.org/times-square-new-years-eve/nye-history-times-square-ball
https://time.com/4608451/new-years-eve-ball-drop-history/
https://www.businessinsider.com/new-years-eve-times-square-ball-drop-history-in-photos-2017-11#when-the-us-entered-world-war-ii-the-fire-department-started-ramping-up-security-because-of-wartime-blackouts-1942-and-1943-were-the-only-two-years-without-ball-drops-4
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/12/drop-ball-new-years/
https://www.history.com/news/how-times-square-became-the-home-of-new-years-eve
