We’re readying the champagne flutes and noisemakers as we prepare to welcome 2025.
Before we look ahead, we’re taking a step back and diving into New Year’s Eve history. How did NYC’s biggest party of the year come to be, and what was it liked when it first originated? Since we have fun facts about the New Year’s Eve ball , it’s only fitting to follow up with the celebration itself.
Even if you’re not celebrating New Year’s Eve in Times Square, we’re willing to be you’re watching the countdown to midnight on TV. It’s that universal. Here’s what the event was like in years past, all the way back to its inception.
NYC New Year’s Eve history
- Before New Yorkers ventured to Times Square, they gathered at Trinity Church, where they would “ring out the old, ring in the new”
- Although the official New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square is considered to be 1907, people began gathering in Midtown in 1904
- The year 1904 not only coincides with the first Times Square gathering, but the NYC’s subway opening and the New York Times‘ new headquarters
- Nestled between 7th Avenue, Broadway and 42nd Street, The Times‘ was a hotspot for the holiday, and the paper’s owner, Adolph Ochs, made sure of it
- The celebrations were halted in 1942 and 1943 during World War II and commemorated with a moment of silence at midnight
- Although the Times Square ball underwent many renditions, it was completely redesigned for Times Square 2000, the millennium
- The concept of a “time-ball” that we use in the celebration dates back to the UK’s Royal Observatory at Greenwich in 1833
Interesting, right? But now that you’re in tune with the past, get caught up with the present-day: our guide to Times Square New Year’s Eve street closures (and pedestrian entrance points) will make your travel on the day of the holiday a lot easier.
For more information about the backstory of the biggest party of the year, visit the Times Square Alliance online.