Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment center, and neighborhood in midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent Duffy Square, Times Square is a bowtie-shaped space five blocks long between 42nd and 47th Streets.
Brightly lit by numerous billboards and advertisements, it is sometimes referred to as "the Crossroads of the World", "the Center of the Universe", "the heart of the Great White Way", and "the heart of the world". One of the world's busiest pedestrian areas, it is also the hub of the Broadway Theater District and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily, many of them tourists, while over 460,000 pedestrians walk through Times Square on its busiest days.Formerly known as Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the then newly erected Times Building, now One Times Square. It is the site of the annual New Year's Eve ball drop, which began on December 31, 1907, and continues to attract over a million visitors to Times Square every year.Times Square, specifically the intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street, is also the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States.
1904Apr, 8
Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
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Events on 1904
- 17Jan
The Cherry Orchard
Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre. - 3Mar
Thomas Edison
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's phonograph cylinder. - 8Apr
The Book of the Law
British mystic Aleister Crowley transcribes the first chapter of The Book of the Law. - 5May
Cy Young
Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. - 16Nov
Vacuum tube
English engineer John Ambrose Fleming receives a patent for the thermionic valve (vacuum tube).