To ring in 1908, they decided not to do fireworks in such an environment, so they came up with dropping the ball. The New York Times has been dropping the ball ever since!
I have seen that event on T.V. several times. Dick Clark started showing it on his show in 1974! I was only twelve. I couldn't stay up that late (even though it came to my T.V. at 11:00 pm)! Life as we knew it ceased to exist at my house at 10:00 pm! Everything went dark!
Perhaps I will stay up and watch it tonight ... I probably won't ... then again I might!