The first New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, then called Longacre Square, was held on December 31, 1904.
The New York Times organized the celebration to promote the opening of its new headquarters at the intersection later known as Times Square. The event featured fireworks and attracted a large public crowd. New York City officially renamed the area Times Square in April 1904, after the newspaper moved into the building.
The famous ball drop did not begin until 1907. Fireworks had been used for the first celebrations, but the city later prohibited them in the area because of safety concerns. The newspaper responded by introducing the illuminated time ball that could be lowered at midnight.
This distinction explains why 1904 and 1907 are both important dates in the history of the celebration. The first public New Year's Eve gathering came before the ball-drop tradition, which became the event's defining feature only a few years later.