What 1904 New Year's Eve event gave New York City's Times Square its first major public celebration?

A fireworks display gave New York City's Times Square its first major public New Year's Eve celebration in 1904.

The event was organized to celebrate the opening of the new headquarters of The New York Times, then called the Times Building. On December 31, 1904, crowds gathered around Longacre Square, which was renamed Times Square earlier that year. Fireworks were set off from the building at midnight, creating a highly visible public spectacle.

The city later prohibited fireworks in the area, so publisher Adolph Ochs sought another dramatic way to mark the New Year. That led to the first Times Square Ball drop on December 31, 1907. The ball-drop tradition therefore followed the original fireworks celebration rather than beginning with it.

The 1904 event is sometimes confused with the first ball drop because both are milestones in the same New York tradition. The distinction is clear: 1904 brought the inaugural public celebration, while 1907 introduced the descending ball.