On Sunday morning of December 9, 1910, Holyoke woke up to find that a fire had broken out at the printing plant reducing this flourishing enterprise to ashes. The home of William and Elizabeth Town was destroyed. The site became a tourist destination, with people stopping to and commenting on the situation. But, like a phoenix, a new and better building rose from the ashes. People gossiped about the new building, speculating as to what it was. Exceeding the size of an average city home, and too lavish to be a set of apartment houses, the construction bewildered the locals. It has spacious porches and plenty of glass. Eventually the buzz settled on the thought that it was a schoolhouse which was not far off the mark. Over time, the Nautilus offices had acquired a reputation for being a finishing school or high school annex because its editor, Mrs. Elizabeth Towne, had a firm and steady vision as to how her employees should behave and the customary requirement for employment was a high school diploma.
Elizabeth was meticulous in her screening of the young women who would work in her newly acquired enterprise. William, the consumate publisher focused on marketing and left the marketing the editing or the day to day creative process to Elizabeth.