New York City’s Times Square celebration first used a descending ball instead of fireworks in 1907. The New York Times introduced the illuminated ball after city authorities banned the fireworks that had marked the newspaper’s earlier New Year celebrations.
The first ball was lowered from the flagpole of the Times building on December 31, 1907. At midnight, the descent gave the crowd a visible signal that the new year had arrived, and the idea quickly became an annual tradition.
This fact is sometimes confused with the year 1904, when the New York Times held its first New Year celebration in the newly named Times Square. The public party began in 1904, but the ball drop itself began three years later. The Times building is now known as One Times Square.