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Why did Charles Taze Russell create The Watchtower magazine?

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Three Jehovah's Witnesses stand beside literature carts, holding religious magazines, at the Star Ferry Pier under a blue sign for City Hall and MTR Station in Hong Kong. — Jehovah’s Witness Adherents of the Jehovah's Witness movement distributing literature about their faith in Hong Kong, China.

Charles Taze Russell founded the journal that became known as The Watchtower in 1879 to serve as a vehicle for preaching his religious convictions, specifically those regarding Christ’s millennial reign.1

Having dedicated his life and fortune to this cause, Russell used the publication to disseminate his interpretations of biblical prophecy, which included the belief that Christ’s "invisible return" had occurred in 1874 and that a golden age would follow the end of the Gentile times in 1914. Following the establishment of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1884, the magazine became a central tool for the movement, motivating volunteers to circulate his teachings and helping the group organize its efforts to recalculate and share their understanding of the Parousia, or Christ's presence.12