The Times Square Ball first dropped to welcome the New Year in 1907.
The event was created by newspaper publisher Adolph Ochs, whose New York Times headquarters had opened in Times Square in 1904. The first ball was lowered from the flagpole atop the building at midnight on December 31, 1907.
The inaugural ball was made of iron and wood, decorated with electric lights, and measured about 5 feet (1.5 meters) across. The tradition continued through most subsequent years, although wartime blackouts suspended the illuminated drop in 1942 and 1943.
The ball drop is sometimes confused with the first New Year's Eve gathering in Times Square. Large celebrations took place there before 1907, but the descending ball itself began that year.