The Surprising Science History Behind New York City’s Ticker-tape Parades

Knicks fans are flocking to little Manhattan connected Thursday to observe nan New York Knicks winning nan National Basketball Association (NBA) championship—the team’s first title successful much than a half-century—with a distinctly New York City tradition: a ticker-tape parade.

But what moreover is ticker tape? And why do New Yorkers propulsion it astatine parades? It’s much important to nan country’s history than you mightiness think.

Ticker-tape parades started successful 1886, erstwhile New York City celebrated nan dedication of nan Statue of Liberty. Then Manhattan workers threw bits of paper—ticker tape—like wedding confetti from agency building windows arsenic nan parade passed beneath them. The parade way on Broadway has since go known arsenic nan “Canyon of Heroes”—and nan ticker-tape contented has stuck.

On supporting subject journalism

If you're enjoying this article, see supporting our award-winning publicity by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to guarantee nan early of impactful stories astir nan discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

“When nan Knicks won, and I heard that they were going to person a ticker-tape parade, I thought, ‘Oh, my god, ticker tape—good grief, cipher moreover knows what that is anymore,’” jokes Joseph Janes, an subordinate professor astatine nan University of Washington Information School and big of nan podcast Documents That Changed nan World.

Ticker portion gets its sanction from nan banal ticker, aliases banal printer, a benignant of telegraph instrumentality that was first invented successful 1867 by nan American Telegraph Company’s Edward A. Calahan—who created a creation that was later improved upon by Thomas Edison. Stock printers received accusation astir banal prices complete telegraph wires and printed them retired connected a ribbon of paper—ticker tape. The sanction “ticker” caught connected because of nan tick tick tick sound nan instrumentality made while printing, Janes says.

Ticker tape, circa 1970.

Blank Archives/Getty Images

“Prior to tickers, you needed to beryllium either adjacent to a banal speech aliases successful nan banal speech to get immoderate thought of what existent marketplace prices were,” says Kristin Aguilera, lawman head of nan Museum of American Finance successful Boston. “If you were not successful 1 of those areas, you would person to hold until they printed nan banal prices astatine nan extremity of each time and past hold to person it by mail, messenger, bearer pigeon [or] emblem signals,” she says.

At nan time, nan banal ticker, which worked utilizing preexisting telegraph lines, was a “huge innovation,” she says. For nan first time, group could transmit banal prices successful “very adjacent to existent time,” Aguilera says. By nan move of nan century, tickers were everywhere—in brokerages, able investors’ homes, news offices, and more, she says. “Anybody who needed entree to up-to-date financial accusation would person a ticker.”

But nan ticker could only people truthful fast: And astatine highly precocious waste and acquisition volumes, it’d autumn behind. This wasn’t overmuch of a problem erstwhile nan marketplace was up, Janes says. But during nan marketplace clang of 1929, it fanned nan flames of panic.

As nan marketplace was crashing, banal tickers were delayed, astatine immoderate points by arsenic overmuch arsenic hours. “People freaked and sold and sold and sold, and that conscionable drove nan marketplace down further,” Janes says. One day, arsenic Janes chronicles successful an section of Documents That Changed nan World, tourer buses made trips to nan metropolis to spot a ravaged Wall Street, littered pinch ticker paper. “Tourists were picking up pieces of banal orders and ticker portion because they’re conscionable lying successful nan street,” Janes says.

A changeless ablution of ticker portion emerges from a instrumentality astatine nan Toronto Stock Exchange, circa 1955.

Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images

Over nan years, inventors improved connected nan creation pinch faster models (such arsenic an iteration described successful a 1930 Scientific American article). Ultimately, nan banal ticker was utilized until nan 1960s. Excess portion was employed for parades—fueling nan New York City tradition. Today, however, shredded paper is utilized successful spot of ticker tape.

Since nan 19th century, nan metropolis has held hundreds of ticker-tape parades, according to nan Downtown Alliance. The astir caller was successful 2025 to honor Gotham Football Club’s triumph successful nan National Women’s Soccer League finals that year. This twelvemonth will beryllium nan Knicks’ first; erstwhile nan squad won nan NBA’s championships successful 1970 and 1973, for 1 logic aliases another, nan metropolis didn’t clasp a ticker-tape parade. (The politician typically determines when to big one.)

And though we don’t usage banal tickers today, their bequest hasn’t been lost. The stock-trading banner that runs astatine nan bottommost of tv news broadcasts is still called nan “ticker,” and banal movements are called “ticks,” Janes says.

Technologies utilized today, from nan TV news “ticker” to Bitcoin, are “a facet of wherever we’ve travel from, nan group who person travel earlier us” and nan inventions of nan past, Aguilera says. “Whenever you’re talking astir a technology, thing is calved retired of bladed air. All of these inventions built connected nan ones that came earlier them.”