A Fireworks Ban led to the Iconic New Year's Eve Time Square Ball drop.
The New York Times threw a raucous street party in Times Square on December 31, 1904. The event was a huge success, and Time Square New Year's Eve parties quickly became a yearly tradition. However, in its early days, the custom was on the verge of becoming extinct. Originally, the year-end festivals on the square ended with midnight fireworks displays. However, due to safety concerns, the city government outlawed the practise in 1907. So Adolph Ochs, the owner of The New York Times, substituted a lightbulb-studded ball of wood and iron for the pyrotechnics. He was inspired by England's famous time balls, which descended at specific times at locations such as the Greenwich Observatory to assist sailors in measuring
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