January 1, Early Bird Jewdayo: The Times Square Ball

The New Year’s Ball was dropped in Times Square for the first time on this date in 1907. The ball was made of wood and iron, weighed 700 pounds, and was covered with 100 light bulbs. It was constructed by Jacob Starr, a Jewish metalworker whose Artcraft Strauss company (his partner was Benjamin Strauss) has built every New Year’s Ball since. Previously known as Longacre Square, Times Square received its name when Adolph S. Ochs moved the New York Times there in 1904 (the paper’s offices remained there only until 1913). The son of German Jewish immigrants, Ochs purchased the New York Times in 1896, at the age of 38, and built its readership from 9,000 to 780,000 by the 1920s. More than a million people congregate in Times Square on New Year’s Eve each year to watch the descent of the ball, which is today made of Waterford Crystal with LED technology. “Jake used to tell the story of coming to Strauss’ workshop around 1907 during the depression with a big sledge-hammer and a bag full of tools and saying in Yiddish, ‘Kenst usen a starker man?’ (Can you use a strong man?) . . . The sledge-hammer weighed more than he did. Strauss laughed, but he hired him.” —Mel Starr, in Broadway: Its History, People, and Places, by Ken Bloom