boxing fight in 1921.
Early history When
Manhattan Island was first settled by the
Dutch colonists, three small streams united near what is now the intersection of
10th Avenue and
40th Street. These three streams formed the "Great Kill" (Dutch:
Grote Kil). From there the Great Kill wound through the low-lying Reed Valley, known for fish and waterfowl, and emptied into a deep bay in the
Hudson River at the present 42nd Street. The name was retained in a tiny hamlet, Great Kill, that became a center for carriage-making, as the upland to the south and east became known as Longacre. Before and after the
American Revolution, the area belonged to
John Morin Scott, a general of the
New York militia, in which he served under
George Washington. Scott's
manor house was at what is currently 43rd Street, surrounded by countryside used for farming and breeding horses. In the first half of the 19th century, it became one of the prized 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. By 1872, the area had become the center of New York's horse carriage industry. The locality had not previously been given a name, and city authorities called it Longacre Square after
Long Acre in London, where the horse and carriage trade was centered in that city.
William Henry Vanderbilt owned and ran the American Horse Exchange there. In 1910, it became the Winter Garden Theatre. As more profitable commerce and industrialization of
Lower Manhattan pushed homes, theaters, and
prostitution northward from the
Tenderloin District, Longacre Square became nicknamed the
Thieves Lair for its increasingly prominent reputation as a low entertainment district. The first theater on the square, the
Olympia, was built by cigar manufacturer and
impresario Oscar Hammerstein I. According to
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, "By the early 1890s this once sparsely settled stretch of Broadway was ablaze with electric light and thronged by crowds of middle- and upper-class theatre, restaurant and cafe patrons."
1900s–1930s In 1904,
New York Times publisher
Adolph S. Ochs moved the newspaper's operations to a new skyscraper on 42nd Street at Longacre Square, on the site of the former
Pabst Hotel, which had existed on the site for less than a decade since it opened in November 1899. 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 north end later became Duffy Square, and the former Horse Exchange became the
Winter Garden Theatre, constructed in 1911.
The New York Times moved to more spacious offices one block west of the square in 1913 and sold the building in 1961. Now known simply as
One Times Square, it is famed for the
Times Square Ball drop on its roof every New Year's Eve. In 1913, the
Lincoln Highway Association, headed by entrepreneur
Carl G. Fisher, chose the intersection of 42nd Street and Broadway (at the southeast corner of Times Square) to be the Eastern Terminus of the
Lincoln Highway. This was the first road across the United States, which originally ran coast to coast through 13 states to its western terminus in
Lincoln Park in San Francisco. Times Square grew dramatically after
World War I. It became a cultural hub full of theaters,
music halls, and upscale hotels. For example, the
Wrigley Spearmint Gum sign, possibly the biggest electric sign "in the world," cost $9,000 per month to rent. Some contemporary critics, such as
Thorstein Veblen and
G. K. Chesterton, disliked the advertising at Times Square.
Fritz Lang, after seeing Times Square in 1923, used it as inspiration for his dark industrial film
Metropolis.
1930s–1950s (August 15, 1945) The general atmosphere of Times Square changed with the onset of the
Great Depression in the early 1930s. City residents moved uptown to cheaper neighborhoods, and many popular theaters closed, replaced by saloons, brothels, "burlesque halls, vaudeville stages, and dime houses". The area acquired a reputation as a dangerous and seedy neighborhood in the following decades. Nevertheless, Times Square continued to be the site of the annual
ball drop on New Year's Eve. The ball drop was placed on hiatus for New Year's Eve in 1942 and 1943 due to lighting restrictions during
World War II, replaced by a moment of silence that was observed at midnight in Times Square, accompanied by the sound of chimes played from sound trucks. On May 8, 1945, a massive crowd celebrated
Victory in Europe Day in Times Square; and on August 15, 1945, the largest crowd in the history of Times Square gathered to celebrate
Victory over Japan Day, reaching an estimated two million. The victory itself was announced by a headline on the "zipper"
news ticker at
One Times Square, which read "OFFICIAL ***TRUMAN ANNOUNCES JAPANESE SURRENDER ***".
1960s–1990s Decline From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the seediness of the area, especially due to its
go-go bars,
sex shops,
peep shows, and adult theaters, became an infamous symbol of the city's decline. As early as 1960, 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues was described by
The New York Times as "the 'worst' [block] in town". Later that decade, Times Square was depicted in
Midnight Cowboy as gritty, depraved, and desperate. Conditions only worsened in the 1970s and 1980s, as did the
crime in the rest of the city, with a 1981 article in
Rolling Stone magazine calling 42nd Street in Times Square the "sleaziest block in America". In the mid-1980s, the area bounded by 40th and 50th Streets and Seventh and Ninth Avenues saw over 15,000 crime complaints per year. The block of 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues had 2,300 crimes per year in 1984, of which 20% were felonies. Times Square was known in the 1970s-80s as the most notorious area for prostitution. In this era, formerly elegant movie theaters began to show
x-rated films, and
peep shows hustlers were common. In 1984, the area was so derelict and dilapidated, that the entire Times Square area paid the city only $6 million in property taxes (equivalent to $ million in ).
1980s building boom In the 1980s, a commercial building boom began in the western parts of Midtown as part of a long-term
development plan developed under mayors
Ed Koch and
David Dinkins. These included office buildings such as
1540 Broadway,
1585 Broadway, and
750 Seventh Avenue, as well as hotels such as the
Macklowe Hotel,
Marriott Marquis,
Crowne Plaza, and DoubleTree Suites. By 1986,
New York City Planning Commission (CPC) was considering enacting regulations that would have forced new buildings along Times Square to include bright signage as well as deep
setbacks. The CPC adopted a planning regulation in 1987, which required large new developments in Times Square to set aside about 5 percent of their space for "entertainment uses". The regulation also required new buildings on Times Square to include large, bright signs. Furthermore, some of office space in the western section of Midtown had been developed in the 1980s, of which only half had been leased. Consequently, 1540 Broadway was completely empty, while 1585 Broadway and 750 Seventh Avenue had one tenant each, despite the buildings having over of office space between them. Entertainment conglomerate
Bertelsmann bought 1540 Broadway in 1992, spurring a revival of Times Square in the early 1990s. This was hastened when financial firm
Morgan Stanley bought 1585 Broadway in 1993, followed by 750 Seventh Avenue in 1994.
42nd Street Redevelopment, further revitalization , extensive
transit connectivity, and
theatrical tradition of
42nd Street, between
Seventh and
Eighth Avenues, have made this one of the best known streets in the Times Square neighborhood and the
Broadway Theater District. The
Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), an agency of the New York state government, had proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981. Four towers designed by
Philip Johnson and
John Burgee were to be built around 42nd Street's intersections with
Broadway and Seventh Avenue. These towers would have been redeveloped by George Klein of Park Tower Realty, though the
Prudential Insurance Company of America joined the project in 1986. Furthermore, as part of the West Midtown special zoning district created in 1982, the New York City government had allowed new buildings in Times Square to be developed with an increased floor area ratio. To ensure the area would not be darkened at nightfall, the city passed zoning regulations that encouraged developers to add large, bright signs on their buildings. In 1990, the
State of New York took possession of six of the nine historic theaters on 42nd Street, and the
New 42nd Street non-profit organization was appointed to oversee their restoration and maintenance. The theaters underwent renovation for Broadway shows, conversion for commercial purposes, or demolition. led government officials to allow Prudential and Park Tower to postpone the project in 1992. By then, Prudential had spent $300 million on condemning the sites through
eminent domain. The partners retained the right to develop the sites in the future, and the ESDC's zoning guidelines remained in effect. In 1992, the Times Square Alliance (formerly the Times Square
Business Improvement District, or "BID" for short), a coalition of city government and local businesses dedicated to improving the quality of commerce and cleanliness in the district, started operations in the area. In 1998, the alliance opened a tourist information center in the former
Embassy Theatre at 1560 Broadway; the information center operated until 2014. and
Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium are two of the newer attractions on the redeveloped
42nd Street. In the mid-1990s, Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani led an effort to clean up the area, an effort that is described by Steve Macek in
Urban Nightmares: The Media, the Right, and the Moral Panic Over the City: Security was increased, pornographic theaters were closed, and "undesirable" low-rent residents were pressured to relocate, and then more tourist-friendly attractions and upscale establishments were opened. Advocates of the
remodeling claim that the neighborhood is safer and cleaner. Detractors have countered that the changes have homogenized or
"Disneyfied" the character of Times Square and have unfairly targeted lower-income New Yorkers from nearby neighborhoods such as
Hell's Kitchen. The changes were shaped in large part by the actions of
The Walt Disney Company, which bought and restored the
New Amsterdam Theatre after several attempts at redevelopment had failed. As part of a contract with Disney, officials from the city and state evicted the pornographic theaters and contracted with
Madame Tussauds and
AMC Theatres to move onto 42nd Street. This spurred the construction of new office towers, hotels, and tourist attractions in the area. Prudential and Klein dissolved their partnership for the four office-building sites at Times Square's southern end in 1996. The same year,
Douglas Durst acquired the site at the northeast corner of Broadway and 42nd Street, and he developed
4 Times Square there. The northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street was taken by
Reuters, which enlisted
Rudin Management as its development partner and built
3 Times Square on that corner; that building opened in 2001. In 1998, a joint venture of Klein,
The Blackstone Group, and
Boston Properties won the right to acquire the sites at the southwest and southeast corners of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue for $330 million.
5 Times Square was completed on the southwest-corner site in 2002, and
Times Square Tower opened on the southeast-corner site in 2004.
Effects Times Square now boasts attractions such as
ABC's
Times Square Studios, where
Good Morning America is broadcast live; competing
Hershey's and
M&M's stores across the street from each other, and multiple multiplex movie theaters. Additionally, the area contains restaurants such as the
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, a
seafood establishment;
Planet Hollywood Restaurant and Bar, a
theme restaurant; and Carmine's, serving
Italian cuisine. It has also attracted several large financial, publishing, and media firms to set up headquarters in the area. A larger presence of police has improved the safety of the area. The neighborhood has a minimum limit for lighting instead of the standard maximum limit. The density of illuminated signs in Times Square rivals that in
Las Vegas. Officially, signs in Times Square are called "spectaculars", and the largest of them are called "
jumbotrons". This signage ordinance was implemented in accordance with guidelines set in a revitalization program that New York Governor
Mario Cuomo implemented in 1993. " has been a fixture on Times Square for decades. Notable signage includes the
Toshiba billboard directly under the NYE ball drop, the curved seven-story
NASDAQ sign at the
NASDAQ MarketSite at
4 Times Square on 43rd Street, and the curved
Coca-Cola sign located underneath another large LED display owned and operated by
Samsung. Both the Coca-Cola sign and Samsung LED displays were built by LED display manufacturer
Daktronics. Times Square's first environmentally friendly billboard powered by wind and solar energy was first lit on December 4, 2008. The new
20 Times Square development hosts the largest LED signage in Times Square at 18,000 square feet. The display is 1,000 square feet larger than the Times Square
Walgreens display and one of the largest
video-capable screens in the world.
2000s–present In 2002, New York City mayor
Rudy Giuliani administered the oath of office to the city's next mayor,
Michael Bloomberg, at Times Square after midnight on January 1 as part of the 2001–02 New Year's celebration. Approximately 500,000 revelers attended. Security was high following the
September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, with more than 7,000
New York City police officers on duty in the Square, twice the number for an ordinary year. ticket booth in December 2008 at Times Square Times Square started hosting other major annual events in the 2000s. Since 2002, the summer solstice has been marked by "Mind over Madness", a mass yoga event involving up to 15,000 people. Tim Tompkins, a co-founder of the event, said part of its appeal was "finding stillness and calm amid the city rush on the longest day of the year". Architect
Mark Foster Gage proposed and designed the original Times Square Valentine's Day heart in 2009. Since then, designing the heart has become an annual competition. In February 2011, Times Square became smoke-free as New York extended the outdoors
smoking ban to the area. The measure imposed a $50 fine for any person caught smoking within the area. From January 29 to February 1, 2014, a "Super Bowl Boulevard" was held on Broadway, especially in Times Square, between 34th and 47th Streets, as part of
Super Bowl XLVIII. The boulevard contained activities such as autographs, a -high
toboggan run, and photographs with the
Vince Lombardi Trophy. The area was under increased security and witnessed over 400,000 people during the period. In October 2022, casino operator
Caesars Entertainment and commercial property developer
SL Green submitted a joint proposal to open a
casino at
1515 Broadway, along Times Square. The community advisory committee rejected the proposal in September of 2025, therefore ending the prospects of a
casino hotel in Times Square.
Pedestrian plaza On February 26, 2009, Mayor
Michael Bloomberg announced that traffic lanes along
Broadway from
42nd Street to 47th Street would be de-mapped starting Memorial Day 2009 and transformed into pedestrian plazas as a trial until at least the end of the year. The same was done in
Herald Square from 33rd to 35th Street. The results were to be closely monitored to determine if the project was successful and should be extended. Bloomberg also stated that he believed the street shutdown would make New York more livable by reducing pollution, cutting down on pedestrian-vehicle accidents, and helping traffic flow more smoothly through the Midtown street grid. The pedestrian plaza project was originally opposed by local businesses, who thought that closing the street to cars would hurt business. The original seats put out for pedestrians were inexpensive multicolored plastic lawn chairs, a source of amusement to many New Yorkers; they lasted from the onset of the plaza transformation until August 14, 2009, when they were ceremoniously bundled together in an installation christened ''Now You See It, Now You Don't'' by the artist Jason Peters, and shortly afterward were replaced by sturdier metal furniture. Although the plaza had mixed results on traffic in the area, injuries to motorists and pedestrians decreased, fewer pedestrians were walking in the road, and the number of pedestrians in Times Square increased. On February 11, 2010, Bloomberg announced that the pedestrian plazas would become permanent. The city started rebuilding the plaza in 2010, hiring the design and landscaping firm
Snøhetta to permanently replace Broadway's roadway with custom-made granite pavers and benches. By December 2013, the first phase of the Times Square pedestrian plaza had been completed at the southern end of the square in time for the Times Square Ball drop on New Year's Eve. The project was originally intended to be completed by the end of 2015. Some safety
bollards were also installed as part of the renovation to prevent
vehicular attacks or
collisions on the sidewalk. After
a 2017 vehicle-ramming attack, there were calls to install more bollards along Times Square. Times Square's pedestrian plaza is frequented by
topless women (with painted breasts) called "
desnudas", as well as
costumed characters, who typically
panhandle for tips. The pedestrian plaza became a source of controversy in the summer of 2015 because of a large number of complaints about the topless women and panhandling characters. Although neither of these activities are illegal, opponents believed that the panhandlers' presence was detrimental to the
quality of life in the area. In June 2016, work started on "pedestrian flow zones" where no one was allowed to loiter, as well as "activity zones" where costumed characters were allowed to perform.
Incidents There have been several incidents in Times Square: • On the morning of March 6, 2008,
a small bomb caused minor damage, but there were no reported injuries. • On May 1, 2010, Times Square was evacuated from 43rd to 46th Streets following
the discovery of a car bomb. It was found to be a failed bombing. • On May 18, 2017,
a vehicle-ramming attack at Times Square killed one person and injured 22 others. • On August 7, 2019, shortly after two consecutive
mass shootings in
El Paso, Texas, and
Dayton, Ohio, a
backfiring motorcycle resulted in a
stampede due to the sound being mistaken for gunfire; the stampede injured at least twelve people. • On May 8, 2021, a dispute between a group of men led to a shooting in which three bystanders were wounded, including a four-year-old girl. • On June 27, 2021, a dispute between a group of street vendors led to a shooting in which a 21-year-old bystander was wounded. • On December 31, 2022, a 19-year-old man from Maine injured three officers with the
New York City Police Department in a machete attack that occurred during
New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square. • On February 8, 2024, a teenager shot and injured a Brazilian tourist, and he shot at a police officer and security guard after being confronted for
shoplifting. The shooter, a Venezuelan migrant, fled the area but was apprehended just outside the city. • On August 9, 2025, at 1:30 a.m., a shooting occurred at the intersection of West 44th Street and Seventh Ave., wounding three; the attack occurred outside a
Raising Cane's restaurant, and was possibly a verbal altercation escalating to gunshots. A teenager was among those wounded; no injuries were life-threatening, although they ranged from serious to lesser serious wounds. A 17-year-old was arrested and faces charges of attempted murder. ==Number of visitors==