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1903 Intense house-to-house distribution of free tracts on Sundays; earlier, much of the tract distribution was done on streets near churches.

1904 Sermons by C. T. Russell begin to appear regularly in newspapers; within a decade they are being printed by about 2,000 papers.

1909 Headquarters of the Society is moved to Brooklyn, New York, in April.

1914 The year 1914 as marking the end of “the appointed times of the nations” and the start of a period of “anguish.

1914 First showing of the “Photo-Drama of Creation,” in New York, in January; before the end of the year, it is seen by audiences totaling over 9,000,000 in North America, Europe, and Australia. On October 2, in the Bethel dining room at Brooklyn, C. T. Russell affirms, “The Gentile times have ended”. Bible Students are active preaching in 43 lands; 5,155 share in witnessing to others; reported Memorial attendance is 18,243.

1916 Death of C. T. Russell at 64 years of age, on October 31, while on a train traveling through Texas.

1917 J. F. Rutherford becomes president of Society on January 6, after an executive committee of three has administered the Society’s affairs for about two months. The book The Finished Mystery is released to the Bethel family in Brooklyn on July 17; four who had been serving on the Society’s board of directors become heated in their opposition; thereafter many congregations are split.

1918 The discourse “The World Has Ended—Millions Now Living May Never Die” is first delivered, on February 24, in Los Angeles, California. On March 31, in Boston, Massachusetts, the talk is entitled “The World Has Ended—Millions Now Living Will Never Die”. J. F. Rutherford and close associates are named in federal arrest warrants issued on May 7; trial begins on June 5; they are sentenced on June 21 (one on July 10) to long terms in federal penitentiary. Brooklyn headquarters is closed in August, and its operations are transferred back to Pittsburgh for over a year.

1919 The Society’s officers and associates are released on bail, on March 26; on May 14 the court of appeals reverses the decision of the lower court, and a new trial is ordered; the next year, on May 5, the government withdraws from the case, declining to prosecute. As a test to see whether the work of the Bible Students can be revived, J. F. Rutherford arranges to give the public lecture “The Hope for Distressed Humanity,” at Clune’s Auditorium, in Los Angeles, California, on May 4; the crowd cannot all fit in, and the talk has to be given a second time. Bible Students hold convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, September 1-8; coming publication of the magazine The Golden Age (now known as Awake!) is announced. Bulletin (now known as Our Kingdom Ministry) is published as stimulus to field service. Report for the year shows 5,793 Bible Students actively preaching in 43 lands; reported Memorial attendance, 21,411.

1920 Watch Tower Society undertakes its own printing operations, in Brooklyn.

1922 Radio is first used by J. F. Rutherford, on February 26, in California, to broadcast a Bible discourse. Convention of Bible Students at Cedar Point, Ohio, September 5-13; the appeal is made “Advertise, advertise, advertise, the King and his kingdom”. Clergy in Germany agitate for police to arrest Bible Students when these engage in public distribution of Bible literature.

1924 WBBR (first radio station owned by Watch Tower Society) begins to broadcast on February 24.

1925 Watch Tower of March 1, in discussing the birth of God’s Kingdom in 1914, shows that there are two distinct and opposing organizations—Jehovah’s and Satan’s.

1926 House-to-house preaching with books on Sunday is encouraged.

1928 Bible Students are arrested in New Jersey (U.S.A.) for distributing literature as part of their house-to-house preaching; within a decade, there are over 500 such arrests per year in the United States.

1931 On Sunday, July 26, 1931, Brother Joseph F. Rutherford, then President of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, presented a historic resolution entitled “A New Name.” It contained the statement: “We desire to be known as and called by the name, to wit, Jehovah’s Witnesses.” (See the box “ The Resolution.”) The audience responded in approval with a resounding “Aye!” and erupted in thunderous applause.

1931 The name Jehovah’s Witnesses is adopted by resolution at a convention in Columbus, Ohio, on July 26, and thereafter at conventions around the earth.

1932 Vindication, Book 2, explains why Biblical restoration prophecies apply not to the natural Jews but to spiritual Israel. Arrangement for “elective elders” is terminated, in harmony with explanation in Watchtower issues of August 15 and September 1.

1933 Jehovah’s Witnesses are banned in Germany. During the intense persecution down to the end of World War II, 6,262 are arrested, and their combined time of imprisonment totals 14,332 years; 2,074 are sent to concentration camps, where their confinement totals 8,332 years. Transcription machines (some mounted on automobiles) are used by Witnesses to broadcast Bible lectures in public places.

1934 Portable phonographs are used by Witnesses to play short recorded Bible discourses for interested ones.

1935 In convention discourse at Washington, D.C., on May 31, the “great multitude” is identified as an earthly class; 840 persons are baptized at this convention; greater emphasis is progressively given to hope of eternal life on a paradise earth for faithful servants of God now living. Meeting place is, for the first time, called Kingdom Hall, in Honolulu, Hawaii. (2) The “great crowd” of Revelation 7:9-15 was understood to be made up of “other sheep,” Christians with an earthly hope, who would survive Armageddon. (John 10:16; 2 Timothy 3:1; Revelation 21:3, 4).

1936 Advertising placards are first worn by Kingdom publishers to notify public of Bible lectures. Encouragement is given to start studies with interested people, using the Society’s book Riches along with the Bible; these are frequently group studies.

1937 Portable phonographs are used by Witnesses to play recorded Bible talks right on the doorsteps of homes.

1938 Theocratic arrangements for selecting overseers in congregations replace democratic procedures, in harmony with Watchtower issues of June 1 and 15. Zone assemblies (now known as circuit assemblies) are arranged for groups of congregations

1939-45 Throughout British Empire and British Commonwealth, 23 nations ban Jehovah’s Witnesses or place prohibitions on their Bible literature.

1940 Street distribution of Watchtower and Consolation becomes a regular feature of the activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

1941 Active Witnesses pass the 100,000 mark, reaching a peak of 109,371 in 107 lands, in spite of the fact that World War II has engulfed Europe and is spreading in Africa and Asia.

1942 # J. F. Rutherford dies on January 8, in San Diego, California. N. H. Knorr becomes third president of Society on January 13. Total printing of Watchtower for the year in all languages is 11,325,143. An Advanced Course in Theocratic Ministry is inaugurated for the Society’s headquarters staff, on February 16. Watch Tower Society prints the complete Bible, King James Version, on its own press (a web rotary).

1943 (see also) Abrahamic covenant [Abrahamic Covenant]

1943 First class of Watchtower Bible School of Gilead begins its studies on February 1. Course in Theocratic Ministry (now called Theocratic Ministry School) for congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses introduced at assemblies in April. U.S. Supreme Court renders decisions favorable to Jehovah’s Witnesses in 20 out of 24 cases; High Court in Australia lifts ban on Witnesses there, on June 14.

1945 As of October 1, the Society’s board of directors is no longer selected by voters who qualify because of monetary donations. Average number of free home Bible studies being conducted each month is now 104,814

1946 During the preceding seven years, over 4,000 of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States and 1,593 in Britain have been arrested and sentenced to prison terms ranging from a month to five years because of their Christian neutrality. In this first year after World War II, 6,504 are sharing in full-time service as pioneers. Awake! magazine (successor to The Golden Age and Consolation) begins publication; total printing of 13,934,429 copies for the year. Over 470 Witnesses are taken before the courts in Greece because of sharing Bible teachings with others.

1947 In Quebec, Canada, 1,700 cases involving the evangelizing work of Jehovah’s Witnesses are pending in the courts. Number of congregations now exceeds 10,000, reaching a total of 10,782 worldwide.

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