Every year, a crowd of around one million gathers in New York’s Times Square, waiting in the wintry weather of late December for the countdown to midnight. When midnight falls, so does the Ball, dropping from a flagpole atop the 25-story building of One Times Square. For over a century, the “Ball Drop” has been a tradition in the United States to celebrate New Year’s. The Ball Drop tradition extends beyond the United States, however: according to Times Square NYC, a worldwide audience, estimated to be greater than one billion, watches the celebration on television annually.
The notion of a “ball drop” wasn’t always synonymous with New Year’s celebrations; it once had maritime associations. In 1833, the first “Time Ball” — a ball that would drop from a flagpole to signify the time sailors set out to sea — was installed atop the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. It still operates today.
The history of the Ball Drop in Times Square begins in 1904, with the very first New Year’s Eve celebration in New York City. At midnight, a fireworks display set off, which a crowd of over 200,000 revelers had gathered to watch. The New Year’s fireworks, described as “[torches] to usher in the newborn year,” were popular enough among New Yorkers to continue for two years, until they were banned in 1907. The firework show, extraordinary as it was, rained hot ash onto the streets of New York City. It was a worrying liability for city officials, who thus encouraged the fireworks to be banned. But that didn’t spell the end of the New Year’s Eve celebrations — it established the beginning of the Ball Drop tradition.
In 1907, the New Year’s Eve Ball made its first descent from the flagpole atop One Times Square. Since then, the Ball has dropped every year, except for 1942 and 1943, during which the city of New York observed wartime protocols for blackouts.
As of 2024, seven distinctive versions of the New Year’s Eve Ball have been designed with varying compositions. The first, designed by Jacob Starr, was 5 feet wide, weighing around 700 pounds; wrought in iron and wood, it was decorated with a hundred white light bulbs. In 1920, the original was replaced by a lighter iron ball. In 1955, it was again replaced with a more lightweight aluminum ball, weighing 150 pounds.
During the 1980s, the aluminum Ball was redesigned to resemble a “big apple” with red light bulbs and a green stem, referencing New York City’s nickname. The “Big Apple” Ball was part of an advertising campaign for “I Love New York” to promote tourism in the state. By 1988, it reverted to the original glowing white ball. For the next ten years, small additions were made to the Ball’s design, including rhinestones and strobe lights.
In the year 2000, the New Year’s Eve Ball was completely remodeled for the new millennium. Two companies — Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting — collaborated to create the most distinguished New Year’s Ball the world had seen yet. Fusing innovation with tradition, the latest lighting technologies were combined with the original Ball’s materials, “reminding us of our past as we gazed into the future.”
The 100th anniversary of the Ball Drop in 2007 called for yet another redesign, again by Waterford Crystal and Philips Lighting. This new crystal ball, called “The Centennial,” has vastly improved brightness and color capabilities due to its 32,256 LED light bulbs. According to Times Square, it’s “capable of displaying a palette of more than 16 million vibrant colors [to create] a spectacular kaleidoscope effect atop One Times Square.” In addition, it was designed to be weatherproof. Its diameter is around 12 feet and it weighs almost 12,000 pounds. The Centennial Ball is covered with 2,688 Waterford crystal triangles, configured into ten different patterns. Each pattern symbolizes a different “Gift,” defined as “a theme of global aspiration whose value is universally treasured.” (The ten different Gifts include Love, Wisdom, Happiness, Goodwill, Harmony, Serenity, Kindness, Wonder, Fortitude, and Imagination.) Of the seven distinctive New Year’s Eve Balls, the Centennial Ball is the current model; it has dropped from One Times Square every year since 2007.
Now, in 2024, the New Year’s Eve Ball is an attraction that millions of people gather to see, not only on New Year’s Eve. Perched atop One Times Square, it glitters on display year-round.
