Why Times Square is Such a Big Deal | How it Became Manhattan

I'm standing in the most visited place in the United States right now

Times Square is essentially just an intersection of a couple streets, but this is more than

just a huge traffic jam. It's essentially the crossroads of the world

Times Square is larger than most intersections in the city because in addition to the neat

four-way stop you usually find in the Manhattan grid, Broadway also cuts through the crossing

diagonally. Broadway cuts across a lot of avenues, but 7th Avenue is where Broadway crosses at the

smallest angle, making for a super wide gap between the buildings. Because there are so many people

that pass through this spot, the price of a Times Square billboard can range anywhere from $5,000

to $50,000 just for a single day. The streets around Times Square are also home to the theater

district, which is where you can find some of the best musical theater in the world. But it wasn't

always like this. In this lesson, I want to tell you the story of Times Square, from when it was

just a trail in a deep forest to becoming an American icon. Before any of this was developed

or covered in concrete, this place was a forest. Cut into this forest was a trail

that the indigenous peoples had made that ran from the bottom of the island

all the way to the top. It was called the Wicquazguec Trail, and it became a major thoroughfare

for people traveling up and down the island. The Dutch expanded this path

and eventually it became the road we know today as Broadway. This is why, even though Manhattan has a square grid

Broadway snakes across diagonally through the city. In doing so it creates these odd shaped sections of land And even though the land is shaped like a triangle the area between the buildings is referred to as squares One of these squares would eventually become Times Square

but for a long time, it wouldn't be known for its media or advertising, but rather for its horses and carriages

It was first known as Longacre Square, named after a square in London

that was also home to the horse and carriage trade. As the city grew, mostly in Lower Manhattan

People needed a way to get around. And Longacre Square was the epicenter for the manufacturing and trade of horses and carriages

But that quickly changed when a real estate developer speculated that this would be a very profitable place to develop

And he was very right. So they dug up the entire square at once to build a very complex subway stop

at what was previously a very sparse lot. Times Square Station is so expansive that many of the buildings in this square

share the same foundation and structure as the trains beneath. And it's actually this transit hub that enabled Times Square

to become the bustling place that it is today. Then one of the major newspaper companies in the city

the New York Times, relocated their headquarters to this square. Their new building would be known as the Times Tower

Longacre Square was looking a lot less like the previous farmland that it had been for horse breeding and a lot more like an urban landscape

The mayor wanted to create buzz around this new part of the city, so he renamed it from Longacre Square to Times Square after the new Times Tower

The day after the name change, the headline in the newspaper read, Times Square is the name of the city's new center

The New York Times Building, which was a major skyscraper for the time, adopted the address 1 Times Square

Three weeks later the first electrified advertisement appeared The hype was real and the city attention started to drift toward the new Times Square no longer the horse and carriage farmland it once was The New York Times wanted to keep up the hype of their new skyscraper headquarters

in this part of town that they had helped create. So in 1904, the publisher petitioned to move the city's New Year's celebration

which usually happened down here at Trinity Church, up to Times Square

and set fireworks off from the top of the Times Tower. The party was such a hit that Times Square became the new host of this celebration

Three years later, they made the party a bit safer by replacing the fireworks with an electrically lit ball

Because the ball was on the tallest building in the area at the time, you could see it from all the way across the city

But now over a million people pack into Times Square every year to try to see the ball drop

Then the advent of live television cemented this tradition in the minds of people far beyond the city

and attracted more visitors each year to come and see it for themselves

And it's done this every year since the year it started, with the exception of two years during World War II

because they put laws out to make the city as dark as possible. This beautifully designed skyscraper still stands today at one Times Square

and it's actually the building that's standing right behind me. You might have a hard time recognizing it or identifying it

Not because they redid the exterior in the 70s, but because it's completely covered in advertisements like everything else in Times Square

Just eight years after the New York Times had made this their headquarters, they left the area

But the name stuck. For many years, Times Square was the meeting place for celebrations in the city

Even when the U.S. troops returned home from World War II, this is where many of them reunited with their loved ones

In the words of one journalist and historian, Times Square quickly became

a place to gather to await great tidings and to celebrate them

whether a World Series or a presidential election Over the decades following the war Times Square fell into disrepair

Any and all activities unsuitable for children took place here, on the street corners and in the theaters of Times Square

But eventually, the city decided to bring back Times Square to its former glory

so they flooded the streets with lights. This strategy created a new practice

where the billboards became brighter and brighter, and were eventually far brighter than the neon signs that were there

When electricity came to the city, billboards lit up Broadway so bright that it became known as the Great White Way

And these billboards are what led to the modern advertising age that we live in today

Even renaming this Times Square was a branding move. And obviously, ads still play a massive role in what Times Square is today

I'm surrounded by them. Times Square is still one of the brightest places in all of New York City and today it's filled with

families and tourists and is very different than it was just several decades ago

Broadway has been closed off to traffic and so now it's mostly just for pedestrians

and it's just filled with tourists all the time. As you wander through Times Square and feel the stimulation overload

remember that this used to be a forested path trafficked by indigenous communities

then by the Dutch and eventually the British who became Americans. Imagine the horse stables

and the carriage factories that used to be here. Go to one Times Square. I'll make sure to put it on the map for you

Peek behind all the billboards and contemplate how this skyscraper one of the first of its size

helped define Times Square first with its name and then with a New Year's celebration

that eventually made this square synonymous with New York City. In the next lesson, I'm going to take you several blocks east of here and introduce you

to another major landmark also on 42nd Street, Grand Central