What is the name of the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square that began in 1904, before the ball drop started?

The Times Square New Year's Eve celebration began in 1904, before the ball drop started.

The event was organized to celebrate the opening of the New York Times headquarters in the newly renamed Times Square, then called Longacre Square. The first celebration featured fireworks launched from the building's roof. Fireworks were replaced by the ball-drop ceremony in 1907 after city officials prohibited the pyrotechnic display because of safety concerns.

The first ball was made of iron and wood, measured about five feet in diameter and was illuminated with one hundred light bulbs. Newspaper employees and workers lowered it from a flagpole to mark midnight. The ceremony became an annual tradition, with interruptions during World War II blackouts in 1942 and 1943.

The square's name is often treated as if it were always connected to New Year's Eve, but the name came from the New York Times headquarters. The celebration and the ball drop therefore have different starting dates.