Adolph Ochs helped introduce the Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop.
Ochs was the publisher of The New York Times, which moved its headquarters to the newly built Times Building in 1904. The surrounding area was soon renamed Times Square. To promote the newspaper and its new location, Ochs organized large New Year's Eve celebrations there.
The first celebration in 1904 featured fireworks. After New York officials prohibited the fireworks display because of safety concerns, Ochs approved a lighted ball as a replacement for the celebration welcoming 1908. The first ball descended from the building's flagpole at midnight on December 31, 1907.
The ball drop became an enduring annual ritual even though Ochs eventually sold the Times Building's naming rights context to the history of the square. His role is sometimes confused with the engineers and electricians who built the original ball, but Ochs was the publisher and promoter who commissioned the event.