This Wednesday, we will celebrate the end of 2025 and the start of 2026. One of the most famous New Year’s Eve celebrations is the dropping of the Times Square Ball during the Times Square New Year’s Eve, a tradition that began in 1907.
But that Times Square Ball was not the first to drop in New York City. The first New York time ball dropped in September 1877 on top of the Western Union building as a way to mark noon each day.
In the 18th century, ships began using chronometers to determine their longitude and navigate the open seas. Chronometers relied on the precise and accurate keeping of time to measure a ship’s longitude. Captains needed to calibrate (or rate) their chronometers in port to ensure accurate navigation at sea. Therefore, ports needed a way to communicate the time to ships’ captains. One of the most common ways to communicate time in the 18th and 19th centuries was by firing guns. This presented problems with accuracy as sound takes time to travel.
In 1829, Royal Navy Captain Robert Wauchope devised a more reliable way to transmit time. He proposed that a large ball be dropped from a flagpole at a precise moment. His idea was first tried in Portsmouth, England, but quickly spread. As soon as the ball started moving, captains could note the time and make any necessary corrections to their chronometers. Captains would be forewarned of the coming signal either by the raising of a flag or the raising of the ball itself several minutes before the planned drop.
Time balls eventually made their way to the United States. Sometimes balls even made their way inland, with one atop Merrill Hall at Doane College in Nebraska. The US time balls would drop at precisely noon each day based on an electric pulse sent by the Naval Observatory in Washington DC.
The New Year’s Eve Times Square Ball is quite a bit more opulent than the time balls that inspired it. It also differs from the naval time markers in that it signals the time when it reaches the bottom rather than when it starts moving. Time balls became obsolete when radio signals began transmitting the time. Few still remain, but on Wednesday evening, we can still observe the most famous time ball bringing millions of people together to celebrate the passage of time.
Crystal Kelly is a feature writer for Bizarre Bytes with those unusual facts that you only need to know for Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy, or to stump your in-laws.
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