History

2023

January 2023

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U.S. Census Bureau History: New York City and the New Year

The "Ball Drop" at New York City's Times Square has be a New Year's Eve tradition since 1907. This year, New Year's
celebrants will not only cheer the arrival of 2023 at midnight, but also the 125th anniversary of the consolidation of
the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island governed by the single municipal government of
New York City, NY—the largest city in the United States.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of State.

The annual "Ball Drop" in New York City, NY's Times Square has been a popular attraction for New Year's Eve celebrants for more than a century. In 2023, the city's holiday revelers can cheer for more than just the arrival of a new year. The 8.8 million people living in Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, can also toast the 125th anniversary of the consolidation of the city's five boroughs, helping the metropolis continue its dominance as the largest urban area in the United States since the 1790 Census.

Before New York City became the largest American city, Boston, MA, and later Philadelphia, PA, were the largest urban places in Colonial America. By the end of the 18th century, New York City had taken the lead. Article I, Section II of the U.S. Constitution required that the United States conduct a census of its population in 1790 and every 10 years thereafter. In 1790, there were 33,131 people living in New York City, NY—the first in an unbroken stretch of 24 decennial censuses in which the population of the "Empire City of the New World" led the nation. In the centuries since that first census, Americans and visitors from around the world have made their way to New York City to celebrate the New Year holiday.

As early as 1801, New Yorkers gathered in lower Manhattan to listen to Trinity Church's bells ring in the New Year. However, as New York City's population grew, so too did the throngs of celebrants packing onto Wall Street and the cramped avenues near Trinity Church each New Year's Eve. Lower Manhattan became so overwhelmed with people by the 1890s, that Trinity Church's Reverend Dr. Morgan Dix cancelled the pealing of bells that would have welcomed 1894. Public pressure forced Dix to reconsider his decision and the bells tolled again in 1895.

The crowds around Trinity Church were substantially smaller on December 31, 1897, as many New Yorkers gathered at City Hall to cheer, dance, and watch fireworks celebrating the consolidation of the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island under the single municipal government of New York City, NY, as of January 1, 1898. As a result of the merger—and a massive influx of immigrants—the population of New York City, NY, more than doubled in the last decade of the 19th century, rising from 1,515,301 in 1890 to 3,437,202 in 1900.

In 1904, New Yorkers found an even more spacious venue to usher in the New Year. Newspaper publisher Adolph S. Ochs sponsored a New Year's Eve celebration in midtown Manhattan's Times Square—formerly known as Longacre Square until it was renamed for the New York Times' triangular headquarters building. More than 200,000 people partied in Times Square and enjoyed midnight fireworks launched from the base of the Times Building. Authorities cancelled the pyrotechnics planned to celebrate the arrival of 1908 because they feared they would ignite a fire. In response, Ochs commissioned the construction of a 700 pound, illuminated "time ball" similar to one at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. The ball slowly descended a pole as the excited crowds counted down the seconds to the arrival of 1908. At midnight, the ball reached the base of the pole and completed an electrical circuit that lit an enormous "1908" sign on the Times Building's roof.

New York City's celebration of the New Year in Times Square grew as the city's population boomed. More than 4.7 million celebrated the arrival of the New Year in 1911 and 6.9 million cheered the first day of 1921. One year after band leader and musician Guy Lombardo first performed his now famous rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" to a crowded New York City ballroom, the 1930 Census counted 6,930,446 people living in the city's five boroughs. [Lombardo performed the song during his live New Year's Eve radio and television broadcasts for decades until his death in 1977.] More than 7.4 million people called New York City home when the ball drop announced the arrival of 1941—the last until 1944 due to wartime restrictions. As New York City's population surged past 8 million in 2000, an estimated 2 million people jammed into Times Square to cheer "Y2K," the "new millennium," and a new 1,070 pound New Year's Eve time ball covered with sparkling crystals. Since 2007, an energy-efficient ball containing more than 32,000 LED lights and 2,688 crystals has been the focal point of the New Year's countdown for millions of Americans and an estimated 1 billion people worldwide.

As New York City, NY, celebrates the arrival of the New Year and the 125th anniversary of its five boroughs' consolidation on January 1, 2023, the "Big Apple" remains the most populous city in the United States with 8,804,190 residents. The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor continues to welcome a diverse "melting pot" of new Americans to the city. In 2021, 3,079,776 New Yorkers identified themselves as foreign-born, including 1,542,413 Latin American, 910,151 Asian, and 443,113 European immigrants. While more than 4.2 million reported speaking only English at home, New York City is home to many languages and dialects including 1.8 million people speaking Spanish; more than 1 million speaking Indo-European languages; and 676,169 speaking Asian languages. Famous for its historic ethnic neighborhoods like Chinatown and Little Italy, American Community Survey data showed that in 2021, the city was home to 2,464,120 Hispanics; 561,108 Chinese; 547,565 West Indians (excluding Hispanic origin groups); 483,838 Italians; 367,880 Irish; 238,369 Germans; 181,227 Sub-Saharan Africans; 179,850 Polish; 179,008 Russians; and 113,222 Arabs.

Whether you welcome the New Year at the "Potato Drop" in Boise, ID; "Peach Drop" in Atlanta, GA; "Olive Drop" in Bartlesville, OK; or New York City's Times Square ball drop, you can learn more about the holiday and the city that hosts one of the world's largest New Year's celebrations using census data and records. For example:

• When Americans ring in the New Year on January 1, 2023, the population of the United States will be approximately 333.5 million, up from an estimated 332.4 million on New Year's Day 2022 and 331.7 million on the first day of 2021.
• Before European settlers arrived in North America, American Indians known as Lenape inhabited the region around New York City, NY. Today, many cities and towns borrow their names from the Algonquian language spoken by the Lenape people, including: Hauppauge, NY, ("sweet waters"); Rockaway, NJ, ("a sandy place"); and White Plains, NY, (Auarropas, "white plains" or "white marshes").
• Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano was the first European to visit the area that would become New York City, NY, in 1524. The Dutch were first to establish settlements in the area 90 years later, beginning with a trading post near Albany and later a fortified settlement they called "New Amsterdam" at the southern tip of Manhattan in 1624. The British forced the Dutch to surrender New Amsterdam in 1664, and renamed it "New York" the following year. Although nearly 350 years have passed since the Dutch surrendered their North American settlements, millions of Americans identify themselves as "Dutch." In 2021, the American Community Survey estimated that the United States was home to 3,083,041 Dutch. Michigan had the largest population of people identifying as Dutch among all states with 380,762, while Kent County, MI, had the largest Dutch population of all U.S. counties with 101,510 in 2021. Other states with large Dutch populations include California (251,819); New York (161,919); and Florida (150,346).
• New York City, NY, was the last capital of the United States under the Articles of Confederation and the nation's first capital under the U.S. Constitution. New York City's Federal Hall hosted President George Washington's inauguration, sessions of the U.S. Congress and U.S. Supreme Court, and the drafting of the Bill of Rights. The March 1, 1790 act authorizing the 1790 Census was written and signed by President George Washington and Vice President John Adams in the city. Following passage of the Residence Act on July 16, 1790, the nation capital temporarily moved to Philadelphia, PA, while workers built a permanent capital city on the Potomac River—present-day Washington, DC.
• New York City, NY, has remained the most populous city in the United States every decade since 1790. The 1790 Census reported New York City's population was 33,131. It was followed by Philadelphia, PA (28,522); Boston, MA (18,320); and Charleston, SC (16,359). With a population of 123,706 in 1820, New York City became the first American city to surpass 100,000 residents. It passed 500,000 in 1850 (515,547), and broke the 1 million mark in 1880 (1,206,299). A huge influx of immigrants into New York and the 1898 consolidation of the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island into a single, unified municipal government saw the city's population surge from 1,515,301 in 1890 to 6,930,446 in 1930. The 2020 Census found that New York City was home to 8,804,190 people. Los Angeles, CA, was the nation's distant second most populous city with 3,898,747 residents.
• On January 1, 1898, a new city charter unified the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island under one New York City municipal government. In 2020, the borough of Manhattan had a population of 1,694,251; the Bronx borough counted 1,472,654; Brooklyn's population was 2,736,074; the borough of Queens had 2,405,464 residents; and Staten Island's population was 495,747. Together, the five boroughs made New York City, NY, the most populous city in the United States with a total combined population of 8,804,190 in 2020.
• Three weeks after celebrating New Year's Day, the nation's Asian American populations will celebrate the Lunar New Year on January 22, 2023. Many cities with large Asian American populations will hold special events to mark the holiday. Some of these cities include Westminster and Garden Grove, CA which have some of the largest concentrations of Vietnamese Americans in the United States. In 2015, 36,954 of Westminster's 91,719 people reported they were Vietnamese alone, while in Garden Grove, 52,025 of the city's 174,721 residents identified themselves as Vietnamese alone. In Arcadia, CA, 26,229 of the city's 57,564 people reported they were Chinese alone, while in nearby Monterey Park, CA, 27,244 of the city's 61,085 residents identified as Chinese alone in 2015. In Lowell, MA, 14,061—nearly 13 percent—of the city's 109,349 residents were Cambodian alone in 2015; while Sacramento County, CA, was home to the nation's largest Laotian population.
• Many adults will toast the arrival of the New Year with a bubbling glass of wine. Although often generically called "Champagne," wine labeled as "Champagne" must come from the Champagne region of France. Similarly, fizzing glasses of prosecco can only come from the Veneto region of Italy. Looking for an American glass of "bubbly"? In 2020, the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns series reported there were 4,123 Wineries (NAICS 312130) in the United States. States with the largest numbers of wineries—many of which produce sparkling wine—included California (1,605); Washington (353); Oregon (306); Texas (207); and New York (206). That same year, the Census Bureau's Annual Survey of Manufactures reported that American Wineries had sales, value of shipments, or revenue of more than $19.8 billion.
• Adolph Ochs was the owner of the New York Times newspaper and the New York Times building at New York City's Times Square when he held the first New Year's Eve ball drop on December 31, 1907. The New Year ball drop has been held annually—with the exception of 1942 and 1943 when the city observed wartime blackouts. Benjamin Strauss of New York's Artkraft Strauss design company constructed the first ball that was patterned after time balls like one at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. Straus built the ball of iron and wood and illuminated the 700-pound sphere with 100 incandescent light bulbs. When the ball reached the end of its countdown journey, it completed an electrical circuit that triggered a "New Year" sign and fireworks. Balls atop the Times Building were replaced in 1919, 1955, 1999, and most recently in 2008. The current 6-foot ball manufactured by Waterford Crystal weighs more than 1,200 pounds and has 9,576 LED lamps. Over the decades, the ball drop has been hosted on radio and television by a number of celebrities including Johnny Carson, Guy Lombardo, and—most notably—Dick Clark, who hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve nearly every year from 1973 to 2004, and co-hosted the event for several years thereafter until his death in 2012.
• For many Asian Americans, the celebration of the Lunar New Year is the most important holiday of the year. According to the American Community Survey, 19,157,288 Americans reported they were Asian alone in 2021. Included among this population are 4,103,036 Chinese; 2,960,811 Filipinos; 1,896,690 Vietnamese; 1,445,315 Koreans; 272,408 Cambodians; 181,458 Laotians; 180,364 Thais; 85,957 Indonesians; 18,803 Malaysians; and 1,203 Singaporeans.
• Two U.S. presidents were born in New York City, NY—Theodore Roosevelt and Donald Trump. Other notable Americans born in the city include Vice Ppresident of the United States Schuyler Colfax; comedians Milton Berle and George Burns; actors Mary Tyler Moore, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney; gangsters Alphonso Capone and Charles "Lucky" Luciano; activist and politician Harvey Milk; Tamany Hall politician William "Boss" Tweed; Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg; and jazz musician Fats Waller.

Many Asian Americans will celebrate the Lunar New Year on January 22, 2023, which coincides with the new moon on the lunar calendar. Festivities include music,
feasts, family gatherings, and traditions like the Lion or Dragon Dances (above) that are performed to bring good luck in the new year. January 22 marks the end
of the "Year of the Tiger" and the beginning of the "Year of the Rabbit" on the Chinese calendar, or the "Year of the Cat" on the Vietnamese calendar.

Each year is assigned an animal based on the Chinese zodiac cycle. There are 12 animal symbols in the zodiac calendars. Symbols repeats every 12 years with
past "Years of the Rabbit" or "Years of the Cat" celebrated in 2011, 1999, 1987, 1975, and 1963.

Photo courtesy of the City of Arlington, TX.

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Did you know?

On January 8, 1889, Census Bureau employee Herman Hollerith received a patent for his electronic tabulating machine.

Hollerith began experimenting with methods to speed data tabulation soon after joining the Census Bureau in 1883, and won a competition to supply the mechanical tabulator he invented for the 1890 Census.

Hollerith's designs proved so efficient that the Census Bureau continued to use improved versions of the technology until replacing them with computers (like UNIVAC I) in the 1950s.

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New Year's Census Day

January 1, 1920, was not only the start of a new year, it was also Census Day!

From 1790 through 1820, Census Day was the first Monday of August. In response to President John Quincy Adams' recommendation that Census Day move to June, the 1830 to 1900 census acts moved the count to the beginning of June to provide 2 additional months to complete the census.

In 1910, Census Day moved to April 15 to better count urban populations that may be away at summer homes or on vacation when census takers visited in June.

The 1920 Census Act moved Census Day to January 1, 1920. The change came at the request of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Since 1840, census takers collecting demographic data also completed a separate agriculture schedule if household members indicated they were engaged in farming activities.

The USDA believed conducting the census on New Year's Day would provide more accurate crop and livestock data for the recent growing season. Also, most tenant farmers would still occupy the land they farmed in 1919 before moving to new farms for the 1920 growing season.

Following the 1920 Census, the United States' population was 105,710,620 and there were 6,448,343 farms. Of the more than 1.9 billion acres of land in the United States, nearly 956 million acres were improved farmland, woodland, or other unimproved land in farms.

Total gross value of agricultural products was $21.4 billion in 1919. Iowa and Texas led the nation for the gross value of their farm goods harvesting nearly $1.45 billion and $1.37 billion, respectively.

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This Month in Census History

A January 10, 1921, fire at the U.S. Department of Commerce building in Washington, DC, destroyed the majority of the 1890 Census population schedules.

On January 10, 1921, a watchman at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC, noticed smoke slowly rising from the floor at about 5:00 p.m. Staff contacted the fire department while another watchman investigated the source of the smoke in the basement. He was forced back by the dense, choking smoke. He activated the fire alarm to evacuate the building's remaining employees.

The first fire crews arrived in minutes. Firemen cut holes in the basement ceiling and poured thousands of gallons of water onto the blaze below before extinguishing the flames 5 hours later.

U.S. Census Bureau director Samuel Rogers assessed the damage the next morning. Shelves containing millions of 1890 Census schedules in bound volumes lay in charred and water-soaked piles on the basement floor.

Rogers initially believed many of the 1890 schedules would be saved, but the waterlogged volumes continued to decay as they awaited conservation. In the years that followed, employees succeeded in saving only a small number of the schedules.

In December 1932, the Census Bureau recommended that the remaining volumes of damaged schedules be destroyed.

Congress authorized their disposal on February 21, 1933.

Learn more about the fire and the availability of surviving 1890 Census records at our 1890 Census Fire web page.

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Visit https://www.census.gov/history every month for the latest Census History Home Page!