Times Square is named after The New York Times, whose new tower was going up here in 1904.
The area was previously Longacre Square, named by city authorities after Long Acre in London, where that city’s horse and carriage trade was centred. While the newspaper’s new skyscraper was being built on 42nd Street, publisher Adolph S. Ochs persuaded the city’s Board of Aldermen to rename the area, and on 8 April 1904 it became Times Square. The Times moved in on 1 January 1905.