How Kingdom Halls Are Built
EVERY week, on the average, construction is started on three Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s witnesses in the United States. Over 3,000 of them have so far been completed. In many other countries, too—on all continents—these places of worship are being constructed.
The growing interest in genuine Bible education has brought about the need for so many Kingdom Halls. In just four years the number of Jehovah’s witnesses in the United States has increased by nearly 100,000; world wide they number over 1,600,000. However, Kingdom Halls today are often crowded with more interested persons than Witnesses themselves! Thus to accommodate everyone, one of the most unusual building programs in history is under way.
Built for a Specific Purpose
The basic design of Kingdom Halls is governed by the special purpose they serve—as places for people to assemble for Bible study and Christian association. Here they listen to talks building up faith in the Bible and can share in programs involving audience participation.
The main feature of the Kingdom Hall is a small auditorium. Usually it seats around 100 to 300 persons. There is a raised platform or stage, generally a foot or so higher than the rest of the auditorium. The seats may be wooden folding chairs, chairs made of molded plastic, or reupholstered theater seats. Since the hall is for Bible Study, it is well lighted, reminding one of a large modern schoolroom. There is no altar or idols.
Usually the Kingdom Hall has a smaller room that serves as a library. In addition, there are washrooms and a cloakroom, or at least an area for hanging outer garments. There are also counters for dispensing Bible literature that is placed with people in the neighborhood.
Although having these basic similarities, Kingdom Halls vary greatly in construction, design and decoration. They may be built of brick, stone, wood, or other materials, often depending upon what is locally least expensive. They may have a variety of shapes, be one or two stories, with or without basements, and they have an almost endless variety of décors, both inside and out.
Working Together to Build
What is unusual about this tremendous building program is not the architectural design of Kingdom Halls, or even the remarkable number being erected. Rather, it is the manner in which they are built—by voluntary contributions and labors.
Most of the work is generally done by the Witnesses themselves. Often the majority in the congregation share in it, including women and sometimes even children. In this way construction costs are greatly reduced, making possible a place of worship that otherwise could not be afforded.
At times the public press takes notice of Kingdom Hall construction, as did the Austin, Minnesota, Daily Herald last fall. Accompanying an architect’s drawing of the hall, the paper reported:
“Completion is expected about Jan. 1, 1972, on the new Kingdom Hall for Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Austin area . . . Ground was broken July 22 on the 32 x 62 foot one-story structure . . . Total worth of land and building upon completion will be about $50,000. Volunteer work by congregation members during weekends as well as during the week will keep the actual cost to around $25,000.”
On weekends often twenty or more were at work. Meals were brought by fellow Witnesses right to the construction site. A number of the women worked alongside the men. One enjoyed running the cement mixer, while others shoveled sand and cleaned up scraps. Even older children shared in hammering nails and fetching tools for other workers. In a town of 27,000 the building project drew much attention.
The new Milo, Maine, Kingdom Hall drew similar attention. The Bangor Daily News reproduced a photograph of it, and reported: “The hall was built by the church’s membership, and the only construction cost incurred was in securing sufficient supervision to direct the pouring of the concrete foundation.”
During the course of construction a prominent Baptist lady remarked to a Witness while he was purchasing some building materials: “I hope you have better success than we do in getting help on our building projects. Usually we wind up with one or two doing all the work.” Often there were as many as twenty working on the Kingdom Hall, and construction was completed in seven months.
In Upper Sandusky, Ohio, the renovated Dairy Queen ice-cream parlor used as a Kingdom Hall was unable to hold the increasing attendances. So it was decided to build a new hall. The fine cooperation of members of the congregation is exemplified by what happened on the day set for framing the building. It poured rain, and still about twenty-five workers showed up! During the course of construction, men, women and children all shared in the work. Thus for a little over $17,000 a fine new Kingdom Hall was built, one that county assessors value at $60,000.
An interesting experience occurred as the work was just getting started. A neighbor offered his backhoe for digging the footings. However, on its arrival it was found that none of the Witnesses knew how to operate it. The owner said that he would run it himself, but that he had corn to plant. So one of the Witnesses, who is a farmer, planted the man’s corn while he operated the backhoe.
Good planning and organization are required to build Kingdom Halls, especially when most of the help is inexperienced. Generally someone is put in charge who understands what needs to be done, and who provides work assignments accordingly. Close cooperation results in quality work and speed of construction that often amaze others.
Cooperation from Other Congregations
Generally a congregation does not build their Kingdom Hall by themselves. They do not have sufficient qualified workers to do it, at least not in a reasonable length of time. So, other congregations pitch in and help. This happened in Webb City, Missouri.
Over fifty Witnesses from nearby congregations on one weekend assembled and erected the main framework of the Kingdom Hall and put on the roof. The women prepared the meals for the workers. With the major problem solved, the work progressed smoothly with mostly inexperienced help. Within six months a new Kingdom Hall was completed.
The situation was similar in Barstow, California; not a single Witness was in the building trade. However, when the decision was made to build, the response of those who heard about it was overwhelming. Many called long-distance and offered themselves and their equipment. More than fifty Witnesses from other places came to help.
These voluntary workers would arrive on Friday night and sleep in their trailers and campers, or stay in the homes of local Witnesses. Then they would work on the Kingdom Hall the entire weekend. In a little over three months a fine hall with 3,500 square feet of floor space was completed.
The Kingdom Hall in Canton, Illinois, was built similarly. A Witness from Lincoln kindly showed the local Witnesses how to lay the foundation; a Witness from Pekin directed the framing of the building; nine skilled bricklayers from nearby congregations laid almost 10,000 bricks in one day; a Witness from Kankakee hung doors; Witnesses from Springfield, Pekin and Rock Island helped with the electrical work, and a Witness from Peoria installed fixtures and another from there laid the carpet. Members of the local congregation assisted their fellow Christians who lovingly offered these services.
People in Canton were amazed by the beehive of activity. The president of a savings and loan company, who lives across the street from the hall, said he was astonished to see so many people work together to lay all the bricks in one day. Even the mayor of Canton attended the open house in November.
Sometimes nearby congregations help financially to erect a Kingdom Hall building. In January 1970 the Shakopee, Minnesota, congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses was formed, and meetings were at first held in the local bank. To help this new group to build a Kingdom Hall, seven congregations in the area contributed funds for the project.
Obtaining Building Materials
Besides such voluntary assistance, another way in which Jehovah’s witnesses often are able to meet the expense of Kingdom Hall construction is by using available building materials. Sometimes these can be obtained free.
In the North Bonneville area, for example, there are plenty of pretty rocks. These were gathered and used in building a new Kingdom Hall. Also, the maple wood used on the hall’s interior was obtained from four maple trees donated by a Witness.
In Milo, Maine, several Witnesses, who work in the pulpwood and lumber industry, cut all the lumber needed for their new Kingdom Hall, about 16,000 square feet of it. They had it sawed out at a local sawmill, and stacked and dried.
The new Colfax, California, Kingdom Hall is rather unusual in that both its interior and exterior are decorated with unhewn lava rock obtained from the lava beds of Mount Lassen. Men, women and children in the congregation traveled there and brought back the rock in trucks.
The Witnesses in Westminster, Colorado, did something similar. A Witness, who has a mine up in the mountains, said there was plenty of beautiful moss rock all around, but that it was difficult to get at. Reports a local Witness: “We took about ten pickups, a number of our Christian brothers and sisters and a picnic lunch and headed for the hills. We formed a human chain and passed rocks down the mountain. Four or five such trips and we had more than enough rock. It saved a bundle of money and looks very attractive on our new Kingdom Hall.”
It is also interesting how this congregation obtained lumber for their hall. It was learned that the army was selling some large barracks for only $200 in a town 500 miles away. So about forty Witnesses got together and traveled there on a Friday. One of them reports what happened:
“The next day the local people stood around and watched in amazement as boards literally flew out of every window all day. That night we slept in the town’s Kingdom Hall. By noon Sunday we had completely torn down the barracks and had loaded the lumber on a large truck that one of the Witnesses had donated. We had enough wood even to make a nice white fence around our land.”
In a similar manner the Ellicott City, Maryland, congregation tore down a 20,000-square-foot cattle shed near the Baltimore Union Stockyard. This saved them about $5,000. Also, they located and hauled most of their 25,000 bricks, at an average cost of three cents a brick.
In addition, the glass doors of the main auditorium as well as carpet padding were obtained from a stately old Baltimore hotel that was being demolished. The chairs came from the Kodak pavilion at the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York. And in exchange for the use of a grading machine, the congregation picked a field of corn.
Variety in Kingdom Halls
Available building materials, the type of neighborhood and the abilities and decorating tastes of local Witnesses make for great variety in Kingdom Halls. The fact is, rarely are two of them alike.
For example, the entrance doors of the new Colfax, California, Kingdom Hall are perhaps unlike any others. They have carved in them scriptures pertaining to Paradise lost (Gen. 3:23, 24) and Paradise regained (Rev. 21:3, 4), complete with thorns and thistles, and grapes and grape leaves. Even the local newspaper carried a picture of these doors carved by a Witness.
Some halls are built in large cities, such as a new Hollywood, California, Kingdom Hall. It is of a style that fits in well with what would be expected in that community.
The new Shakopee, Minnesota, Kingdom Hall, on the other hand, is rustic in style, matching the homes in that rural area. Since it is built into a slope, it has a walk-in basement that serves as the main entrance. Here in the basement is a good-size entry area, with washrooms, cloakroom, library, literature area, as well as a small apartment where visiting ministers can stay. Access to the auditorium on the floor above is by the stairway in the entry area.
The new Westminster, Colorado, Kingdom Hall is laid out quite differently, with its 3,500 square feet of floor area on one floor. A wide sidewalk leads one through two large glass doors with big walnut handles into a spacious entry area. Inside, one faces a brick wall, with archways to the left and to the right that lead into the auditorium.
The carpeted auditorium is sloped toward the stage. It has 180 permanent seats, with room for 100 folding chairs. The stage is in the center rather than at one end, the seats forming a half circle around it, so the whole audience is comparatively close to the speaker. The library can seat an additional forty or fifty. Speakers pipe in sound from the auditorium, or, when the library is used as a second classroom during sessions of the congregation’s Theocratic Ministry School, the sound is shut off.
A much smaller Kingdom Hall was built by the North Bonneville, Washington, congregation of about forty Witnesses. In a setting among trees with rockwork in front, this Kingdom Hall, with its shake roof, cedar siding and solid cedar door, is indeed picturesque. The interior is painted a grain color to match the curly maple trim and furniture.
In larger cities, old buildings are frequently remodeled to make Kingdom Halls. In Brooklyn, New York, for example, a furniture store was recently transformed into an L-shaped hall. The building is windowless as a safeguard against vandalism (a common feature of many city Kingdom Halls), and is large, able to seat comfortably over 400. Larger halls are becoming more common to accommodate the increasing number of interested persons attending Kingdom Hall meetings.
Perhaps there is a Kingdom Hall in your community. If so, likely it was built by Jehovah’s witnesses themselves. Why not visit and see it for yourself? You will indeed be welcome. Jehovah’s witnesses will be happy to take you around and show you its features. And by staying and listening to the program perhaps you will see why so many persons are now attending meetings at Kingdom Halls for Bible instruction.