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.”

Towers Hotel, 79-99 Willow St. • 1975