The original Times Square New Year's Eve ball was made primarily from iron and wood.
The first ball used in Times Square was built for the December 31, 1907 celebration welcoming 1908. It was about five feet in diameter and weighed approximately 700 pounds. One hundred light bulbs illuminated its iron-and-wood structure, making it visible as it descended the flagpole above One Times Square.
The ball-drop ceremony was introduced after fireworks displays at the site were discontinued. Its design drew on the older maritime and public time-ball tradition, in which a visible object dropped at a precisely known hour so observers could set clocks and watches.
Later balls changed dramatically. A 1920 version used iron, and later designs incorporated aluminum, crystal, and advanced lighting technology. The modern ball is much larger and more elaborate than the original, but the historical materials are an important clue to how modest the first installation was. The original ball's construction is sometimes mistakenly described as steel or crystal because those materials appear in later versions.