--- description: Counting down over a century of history title: New Year's Eve Times Square Ball Drop Through History: Photos image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe0b0ca89ca4f610/6987779acd684869b5098da3/new-years-eve-times-square-ball-drop-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [photography](/tag/photography/) ## photography Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Having a Ball: See Photos of the Times Square New Year's Ball Through History by [TIME Photo](/author/time-photo/) and [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) Dec 30, 2014 9:18 PM CUT  Technicians eye the new improved New Years ball, with halogen lamps for greater visibility, in New York City in 1978. Technicians eye the new improved New Years ball, with halogen lamps for greater visibility, in New York City in 1978.Chester Higgins Jr.—The New York Times/Redux by [TIME Photo](/author/time-photo/) and [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) Dec 30, 2014 9:18 PM CUT It’s been over a century since the New Year’s Eve Ball was first dropped, in 1907, in New York City’s Times Square. According to the [Times Square Alliance](http://www.timessquarenyc.org/events/new-years-eve/about-the-new-years-eve-ball/history-of-the-new-years-eve-ball/index.aspx#.VKLbtZA8A "undefined"), the first-ever ball was a metal-and-wood orb that clocked it at 700 lbs. Since then, it’s gone through several iterations, with the current ball — known as the Big Ball — clocking in at nearly _12,000_ lbs. of LED lights and Waterford Crystal facets. The location, TIME [declared in 1988](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966812,00.html "undefined"), is a meaningful one: “Americans’ emblematic visions of their country incline toward the arcadian — cabins in a peaceable countryside, a small town with no entertainment wilder than a Sousa band in the park. But in this century, as the U.S. became an urban nation, New York City‘s Times Square emerged as a different sort of American apotheosis. Times Square exemplified a certain idea of the city carried to its frenetic extreme: a few blocks dense with too many lights and too much action, a happy chaos of honky-tonk night life (the Florodora girls, Legs Diamond’s Hotsy Totsy Club), theatrical bliss (Barrymore’s _Hamlet_, the Marx Brothers) and the spontaneous razzmatazz of the rialto,” wrote Kurt Andersen. “There was a civic side as well: Times Square became the natural New York place for jubilation en masse, every New Year‘s Eve and every time America won a war.” A [live webcast](http://www.timessquarenyc.org/events/new-years-eve/webcast/index.aspx#.VKL5QJA8A "undefined") of this year’s ball drop will begin at 6:00 Eastern on Wednesday. [_Read Next: See the 2015 Times Square New Years Eve Ball in One GIF_](http://time.com/3649805/2015-new-years-eve-ball-times-square-gif/ "undefined")  Technicians eye the new improved New Years ball, with halogen lamps for greater visibility, in New York City in 1978. Chester Higgins Jr.—The New York Times/Redux  New York City Mayor Ed Koch gives the thumbs up sign as he flips a switch to test the Big Apple Ball on Dec. 24, 1981 in New York City. Marty Lederhandler—AP  Jason Samuels, an electrician with signmaker Artkraft Strauss, checks the connections on a lighted ball at the company's shop in New York City, Dec. 22, 1994. Jon Simon—AP  Times Square Business Improvement District President Brendan Sexton, left, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, second from left, actor and Chairman of New York City 2000 Ron Silver, right rear, and President of Countdown Entertainment Jeffrey A. Straus, right, make a toast at a press conference in New York City on, Dec. 28, 1998. Marty Lederhandler—AP  The New York Times Square Ball sits atop 1 Times Square during its test lighting in preparation for the Times Square 2000 celebration, Dec. 30, 1999. Timothy A. Clary—AFP/Getty Images  Peter Gravagna (L), Raymond Nieves (C) and Felix Ortega (R), of Landmark Signs, install light bulbs on the New Year's Eve Ball in New York City on Dec. 28, 2001. Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images  Workers test a giant 1,070-pound, six-foot diameter Waterford Crystal ball, in New York City on Dec. 30, 2003. Jeff Christensen—Reuters  A workman installs one of 72 new Waterford Crystal triangles, featuring the "Hope for Fellowship" design, on the exterior of the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball in New York City on Dec. 28, 2005. Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images  The New Year's Eve Ball is displayed at the Macy's Store in Herald Square before moving to Times Square for New Years celebrations, in New York City on Nov. 5, 2008. Jeff Zelevansky—Getty Images  The Waterford Crystal ball in place and ready for the New Year's celebration in New York City on Dec. 30, 2009. Ozier Muhammad—The New York Times/Redux  Fireworks explode as the Waterford crystal ball is raised at the beginning of Times Square New Year's celebration in New York City on Dec. 31, 2012. Mary Altaffer—AP  A view of the general atmosphere at the 2014 New Year's Eve Philips Ball Test at One Times Square in New York City on Dec. 30, 2013. Desiree Navarro—WireImage/Getty Imges ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3650057/times-square-ball-drop-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3650057/times-square-ball-drop-history/"},"headline":"Having a Ball: See Photos of the Times Square New Year's Ball Through History","datePublished":"2014-12-30T21:18:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:45.348Z","description":"10, 9, 8...","url":"https://time.com/3650057/times-square-ball-drop-history/","keywords":["photography","New York City","Times Square","holiday","tradition","new years eve","new years","New Year"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe0b0ca89ca4f610/6987779acd684869b5098da3/new-years-eve-times-square-ball-drop-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Photo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-photo/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe0b0ca89ca4f610/6987779acd684869b5098da3/new-years-eve-times-square-ball-drop-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TECHNICIANS CHECK NEW YEARS BALL.jpg","caption":"TECHNICIANS CHECK NEW YEARS BALL.jpg","creditText":"Chester Higgins Jr.—The New York Times/Redux","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/photography/","name":"photography"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3650057/times-square-ball-drop-history/","name":"Having a Ball: See Photos of the Times Square New Year's Ball Through History"}}]}] ```