In New York City's first Times Square New Year's Eve celebration, crowds watched fireworks in 1904.
The celebration was staged by The New York Times after the newspaper moved into its new headquarters in the building now known as One Times Square. The paper arranged a large public party on December 31, 1904, and fireworks were launched from the building at midnight.
The fireworks display attracted a huge crowd and helped establish the area as a major New Year's gathering place. Safety concerns later made fireworks from the building impractical. The newspaper replaced them with a lighted ball, which made its first descent on New Year's Eve 1907.
This creates a common timeline mix-up: Times Square's public New Year's celebration began in 1904, but the famous ball-drop tradition began three years later. The two dates refer to different features of the same location's evolving celebration.