Expansion With Jehovah’s Blessing
A DEDICATION program on the evening of September 18, 1995, emphasized that Jehovah God has truly blessed the expansion of his Witnesses at the location of their world headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.
Over 6,000 listened to the dedication program. They assembled in Brooklyn, where the program originated, as well as at other locations, including the large facilities of Jehovah’s Witnesses near Patterson and Wallkill, New York, and at their branch near Toronto, Canada. Those at locations other than Brooklyn heard the proceedings over telephone tie lines.
A Heartwarming Program
The Bethelites, as the volunteer workers are called, listening to the program made up a large part of the worldwide Bethel family of over 16,400 members. Such members serve in about a hundred countries, where they print Bible literature and provide support services for the more than 78,600 congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the world.
Anticipation was high when the dedication program began at 6:30 p.m. with song, followed by prayer by Karl Klein. The program chairman, Lloyd Barry, warmly welcomed all with brief comments on the significance of the occasion. Albert Schroeder reviewed the week’s Watchtower lesson, and then Daniel Sydlik spoke on the theme “Our Sacred Service at Bethel.” These first ones on the program were all members of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The next two program parts—“Meeting Our Expanding Accommodation Needs, 1974-1995,” and “Highlights of Bethel Renovation and Construction in Brooklyn”—featured highlights of the construction or obtaining of the buildings that were dedicated. The remarks focused attention on the recently finished residence building that about a thousand Bethelites now occupy. This 378-foot-high [115 m] home at 90 Sands Street adjoins the printing factory complex.
The program featured the dedication talk by Milton Henschel, president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. He emphasized Bible precedents for dedicating buildings to be used in Jehovah’s service. After a song the proceedings were concluded with prayer by Carey Barber, also a member of the Governing Body. But what were some of the highlights of the program?
The Buildings Dedicated
The Bethel Home overseer, George Couch, explained that 17 residences have been added since the last dedication of a Bethel residence in Brooklyn on May 2, 1969.a These were either newly built homes or buildings that were purchased and renovated. This dedication actually was of these 17 residences, of two small buildings—purchased in the 1940’s but modified as Bethel residences—as well as of the factory and office facilities that had been built or purchased since the dedication of the executive offices of Jehovah’s Witnesses on March 15, 1982.b
The largest of the buildings that were dedicated is the one at 360 Furman Street. Originally constructed in 1928, it was purchased by Jehovah’s Witnesses on March 15, 1983, and totally renovated. It has a million square feet [93,000 sq m] of floor space, or nearly 23 acres [9 ha]. Other buildings included in the dedication were the factory at 175 Pearl Street and large garages that were built in recent years.
Why More Housing Needed
In 1969, when the last Brooklyn Bethel residence building was dedicated, there was a peak of 1,336,112 Witnesses preaching the good news of God’s Kingdom worldwide. But in 1995 there were 5,199,895 doing so, more than three-and-a-half times as many! Thus, to keep pace with the growing demand for Bible literature, the Brooklyn Bethel family has increased from 1,042 regular members in 1969 to more than 3,360, who now live in 22 residences!
George Couch discussed how the need for additional housing was met from 1974 to 1995. In the early 1970’s, several floors in the nearby Towers Hotel were leased by Jehovah’s Witnesses to accommodate the growing Bethel family. In December 1973, Nathan Knorr, then president of the Watch Tower Society, wrote both the Bethel Office and the Towers management, saying that the Society planned to ‘move out of the Towers Hotel by October 1, 1974.’
Brother Couch said that he was shocked because there was nowhere to house the Bethelites living in the Towers. The Towers management was also shocked, since they were relying on the Society’s rent money to keep them going. The upshot was that the Towers management urged Jehovah’s Witnesses to buy the hotel. “You’ve been growing ever since we’ve been in the neighborhood,” they said, “and you need the building.”
“It’s full of tenants,” was the reply of the Society’s representatives. “If we bought it, we’d want to put our own people in there.”
“We’ll empty the building for you,” the Towers management promised. Well, shortly afterward Jehovah’s Witnesses purchased the Towers building at an appropriate price. “Why did Brother Knorr write that letter?” Couch asked his fascinated audience. “He probably didn’t know himself, but that is the thing that sold the Towers Hotel to the Watch Tower Society.”
The speaker also described how Jehovah’s Witnesses purchased 97 Columbia Heights, the former site of the famous Margaret Hotel, just across the street from the original Bethel Home. The location is ideal, since it could easily be tied in with the Bethel complex by an under-the-street tunnel. In February 1980, when the building was in the course of being remodeled, it burned down. Then, because the owner had trouble putting up a new building on the site, he sold the property to Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Brother Couch noted: “Practically every one of these buildings has an interesting story behind it that would point to one thing—that Jehovah God is the one who directed the visible organization to acquire that particular building.”
The Story Behind 90 Sands
The newest and the largest residence is 90 Sands Street. When the property was purchased by Jehovah’s Witnesses in December 1986, it accommodated a large factory at 160 Jay Street.c The factory was torn down, and on August 30, 1990, the Bethel family was told that a permit had been issued to erect a 30-story residence facility on the site.
In an interview conducted by Governing Body member Theodore Jaracz, the Society’s Brooklyn factory overseer, Max Larson, described how permission was granted for building the 90 Sands Street residence. What happened back in 1965, Brother Larson explained, was crucial.
Back then the Society wanted to put up a ten-story factory on a block next to its other factories, but that block’s zoning allowed for only two-story construction. An architect agreed to prepare building prints for the newly proposed factory, but he said: “I won’t embarrass myself by presenting them to the board.” He was convinced that the Board of Standards and Appeals would never change their zoning regulations for the block. When the building prints were approved, he exclaimed: “How in the world did you get that!”
The reason, Larson continued, was that when that block was rezoned for our ten-story factory, nearby blocks were also rezoned, including the one with the 160 Jay Street building. And, amazingly, the rezoning allowed for a hotel. But, Larson noted, it was something no one ever took note of—at least not until some 25 years later, after we began looking for a site for building a new Bethel home. Then the zoning regulation was rediscovered!
Brother Larson explained what happened: “When we prepared the prints for our 30-story residence and took them down to the building department, we were told: ‘You can’t have a residence there. That’s all manufacturing, and they won’t change the zoning for you.’
“‘They don’t have to change it,’ we informed the officials. ‘It’s already zoned for a hotel.’ When they looked up the records, they could hardly believe it! Well, that’s how we got our 30-story building,” Larson concluded.
Jehovah’s Blessing Evident
A Bible psalmist wrote: “Unless Jehovah himself builds the house, it is to no avail that its builders have worked hard on it.” (Psalm 127:1) Clearly, Jehovah’s blessing has been on the construction activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses to facilitate the worldwide preaching and teaching work that Jesus commanded his followers to do.—Matthew 24:14; 28:19, 20.
Those privileged to hear the program on September 18, 1995, were thrilled at the evidence of such blessing upon the expansion at the world headquarters of Jehovah’s servants. Jehovah’s people can be confident of his continued blessing as they keep on doing what he commands.
[Footnotes]
[Picture on page 23]
90 Sands St. • 1995
[Pictures on page 24, 25]
Some of the additional residences that were dedicated
97 Columbia Hts. • 1986
Bossert Hotel, 98 Montague St. • 1983
34 Orange St. • 1945
Standish Hotel, 169 Columbia Hts. • 1981
67 Livingston St. • 1989
108 Joralemon St. • 1988
Towers Hotel, 79-99 Willow St. • 1975
[Pictures on page 26]
175 Pearl St. • 1983
69 Adams St. • 1991
360 Furman St. • 1983