4.The first rooftop celebration atop One Times Square, complete with a
fireworks display, took place in 1904. The New York Times produced this
event to inaugurate its new headquarters in Times Square and celebrate the
renaming of Longacre Square to Times Square. The first Ball Lowering
celebration atop One Times Square was held on December 31, 1907 and is now
a worldwide symbol of the turn of the New Year, seen via satellite by more
than one billion people each year. The original New Year's Eve Ball weighed
700 pounds and was 5 feet in diameter. It was made of iron and wood and was
decorated with 100 25-watt light bulbs.
