RING IN THE NEW
New Year’s Eve has always been a cause for a big celebration in New York, but it hasn’t always looked or sounded the way you might expect. (Never mind the way it’s going to look this year, when most of the world greets the end of 2020 with a hearty “GOOD RIDDANCE!”)
The massive Times Square party started in 1904, when the newspaper decided to celebrate its new building with fireworks, and the ball was added in 1907. Midtown was just taking off as the center of “New York, the Wonder City,” as one of my favorite vintage postcards puts it, and the party just became part of the legend.
But the party started long before the Wonder City.
As early as 1698, New Yorkers were literally ringing in the new with the help of the bells at Trinity Church. By the late nineteenth century, Trinity Church was the magnificent Lower Manhattan edifice we know, and the ringing was the center of the festivities.
Not that the church fathers were especially pleased to be the belle of the ball. The huge crowds of New Yorkers who filled the streets around the Wall Street sanctuary did not stand in decorous silence whilst listening to the sweet peal of the bells. Not even a little. The “ragamuffins” and their older counterparts enjoyed much the same sort of raucous street party that we associate with New Year’s – only with loud tin horns instead of smartphones. It was a classic New York celebration: loud, joyful, and not especially concerned with what anyone else thought.
So it’s not really a surprise that the rector cancelled the ringing in 1893.
It’s also no surprise that the ragamuffins brought their horns to his house that night and rang in the New Year near his stoop. Amazingly enough, the Reverend Dr. Morgan Dix, who looks like a real party-pooper in the surviving pictures, decided it was better idea have the ruffians hold their festivities in the usual spot the next year.
New Year’s Eve, then, has a long record of being a big party night, one way or another, and New York Times owner Adolph Ochs just took it and ran with it.
New Year’s Day, though, was a much quieter affair, and not just because folks were nursing hangovers. It’s a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics, and an important day for many African-American churches. And New Yorkers of every race and creed enjoyed taking part in the custom that started with the Knickerbockers, the City’s first settlers, and the true old-school gentry: New Year visits. Sometimes it was a formal open house, other times just a stop to say hello to friends, but the visit was definitely a good way to start the year.
It certainly is for Ella Shane and her cousin Tommy. When they’re not on tour, they enjoy both ends of the party, taking their horns and heading down to Trinity Church, then dragging out of bed next morning for Mass at Holy Innocents and the round of visits.
I’m thinking of spending New Year’s with them myself!
Whatever your celebration brings, may it be safe and joyful – with best wishes for a better 2021!
Got a Throwback Thursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
The massive Times Square party started in 1904, when the newspaper decided to celebrate its new building with fireworks, and the ball was added in 1907. Midtown was just taking off as the center of “New York, the Wonder City,” as one of my favorite vintage postcards puts it, and the party just became part of the legend.
But the party started long before the Wonder City.
As early as 1698, New Yorkers were literally ringing in the new with the help of the bells at Trinity Church. By the late nineteenth century, Trinity Church was the magnificent Lower Manhattan edifice we know, and the ringing was the center of the festivities.
Not that the church fathers were especially pleased to be the belle of the ball. The huge crowds of New Yorkers who filled the streets around the Wall Street sanctuary did not stand in decorous silence whilst listening to the sweet peal of the bells. Not even a little. The “ragamuffins” and their older counterparts enjoyed much the same sort of raucous street party that we associate with New Year’s – only with loud tin horns instead of smartphones. It was a classic New York celebration: loud, joyful, and not especially concerned with what anyone else thought.
So it’s not really a surprise that the rector cancelled the ringing in 1893.
It’s also no surprise that the ragamuffins brought their horns to his house that night and rang in the New Year near his stoop. Amazingly enough, the Reverend Dr. Morgan Dix, who looks like a real party-pooper in the surviving pictures, decided it was better idea have the ruffians hold their festivities in the usual spot the next year.
New Year’s Eve, then, has a long record of being a big party night, one way or another, and New York Times owner Adolph Ochs just took it and ran with it.
New Year’s Day, though, was a much quieter affair, and not just because folks were nursing hangovers. It’s a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics, and an important day for many African-American churches. And New Yorkers of every race and creed enjoyed taking part in the custom that started with the Knickerbockers, the City’s first settlers, and the true old-school gentry: New Year visits. Sometimes it was a formal open house, other times just a stop to say hello to friends, but the visit was definitely a good way to start the year.
It certainly is for Ella Shane and her cousin Tommy. When they’re not on tour, they enjoy both ends of the party, taking their horns and heading down to Trinity Church, then dragging out of bed next morning for Mass at Holy Innocents and the round of visits.
I’m thinking of spending New Year’s with them myself!
Whatever your celebration brings, may it be safe and joyful – with best wishes for a better 2021!
Got a Throwback Thursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
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Happy New Year to you! I think it was probably a LOT of fun -- as long as you weren't the church rector. Honestly, if you see the pic, he looks like he didn't enjoy ANYTHING!
Happy New Year!