<P> Ochs hired sign designer Artkraft Strauss to construct a ball for the celebration; it was built from iron and wood, electrically lit with one hundred incandescent light bulbs, weighed 700 pounds (320 kg), and measured 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter . The ball was hoisted on the building's flagpole with rope by a team of six men . Once it hit the roof of the building, the ball was designed to complete an electric circuit to light a 5 - foot tall sign indicating the new year, and trigger a fireworks show . The first ever "ball drop" was held on December 31, 1907, welcoming the year 1908 . </P> <P> In 1913, only eight years after it moved to One Times Square, the Times moved its corporate headquarters to 229 West 43rd Street . The Times still maintained ownership of the tower, however, and Strauss continued to organize future editions of the drop . </P> <P> The original ball was retired in 1920 in favor of a second design; the second ball remained 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter, but was now constructed from iron, weighing 400 pounds (180 kg). The ball drop was placed on hiatus for New Year's Eve 1942 and 1943 due to wartime lighting restrictions during World War II . Instead, a moment of silence was observed at midnight in Times Square, accompanied by the sound of church bells and chimes played from sound trucks . </P> <P> The second ball was retired in favor of a third design in 1955; again, it maintained the same diameter of its predecessors, but was now constructed from aluminium, and weighed 150 pounds (68 kg). In 1981, the third ball was revamped in honor of the I Love New York campaign, with red lightbulbs and a green stem to give it the appearance of an apple . For 1988, organizers acknowledged the addition of a leap second earlier that day (leap seconds are appended at midnight UTC, which is five hours before midnight in New York) by extending the drop to 61 seconds, and by including a special one - second light show during the extra second . The original white lightbulbs returned to the ball for 1989, but were replaced by red, white, and blue bulbs in 1991 to salute the troops of Operation Desert Shield . </P>

Why was there no ball drop in times square