Times Square NY

Times Square is a major intersection in Manhattan, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. Times Square consists of the blocks between Sixth and Eighth Avenues from east to west, and West 40th and West 53rd Streets from south to north, making up the western part of the commercial area of Midtown Manhattan.

Smaller than Red Square in Moscow, the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, Champs-Elysées in Paris, Trafalgar Square in London, or Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Times Square has nonetheless achieved the status of an iconic world landmark and has become a symbol of its home city. Times Square is principally defined by its animated, digital advertisements.

Before and after the American Revolution, the area belonged to John Morin Scott, a general of the New York militia where he served under George Washington - the man who became the first President of the United States.

Scott's manor house was at what is now 43rd Street, surrounded by countryside used for farming and breeding horses. In the first half of the nineteenth century it became one of the prize possessions of John Jacob Astor, who made a second fortune selling off lots to hotels and other real estate concerns as the city rapidly spread uptown.

In the early 1900s, New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs moved the newspaper's operations to a new skyscraper on 42nd Street in Longacre Square. Ochs persuaded Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr. to construct a subway station there, and the area was renamed "Times Square" on April 8, 1904.

Just three weeks later, the first electrified advertisement appeared on the side of a bank at the corner of 46th Street and Broadway.

The New York Times moved to more spacious offices across Broadway in 1913. The old Times Building was later named the Allied Chemical Building.

Now known simply as One Times Square, it is famed for the "ball" which "drops" from a tower on its roof every New Year's Eve.

As New York City's growth continued, Times Square quickly grew as a cultural hub full of theaters, music halls, and upscale hotels.

Times Square quickly became New York's agora, a place to gather both to await great tidings and to celebrate them, whether a World Series or a presidential election.