STORY:
New York Times Records Millennium
The newspaper will honor year 2000 with special publications and a television program.
Did you ever wonder how Times Square got its name? Did you ever wonder who came up with the idea of dropping the globe down the flagpole? Both answers include the "New York Times" newspaper. With such a history the paper is going all out to make sure the dawn of a new millennium will be chronicled for future generations.
The New York Times is going to publish a special millennium newspaper, six Millennium issues of The New York Times Magazine, sponsor a two-hour television show.
"Our participation in the New Year’s celebration is a natural one, The Times is an institution that takes great pride in its history. It is a newspaper that has chronicled history over the last 100 years and is very much a part of the times in which we live." Said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of the New York Times.
In 1905 the New York Times moved into a new office at Long Acre Square and 42nd Street and Broadway. Shortly afterward the area was renamed Times Square after the newspaper. The first New Year’s Eve was celebrated in the Square by shooting fireworks off what was then the unfinished Times Tower.
In 1907, Adolph Ochs, publisher of The New York Times, came up with the idea of lowering a large illumi nated globe down the flagpole. On December 21, 1907, huge crowds of New Yorkers gathered at the base of the building to ring in the New Year. This became a New Year’s tradition, which soon will have lasted into the new millennium.
With such a grand history in the celebration of the New Year the newspaper wants to make sure it rings in the Year 2000 in grand style. A special news section will be published in the paper on January 1, 2000. The newspaper will contain a section called "Millennium: Visions and Reflections" in which times writers look to the future in areas such as biology and technology.
The papers will be contained in protective plastic sleeves and can be ordered. Home delivery customers will receive copies in their regular paper, but can order additional copies.
The newspaper is also in the process of putting out special Millennium editions of its New York Times Magazine. There are six Millennium Series magazi