World War I Minnesota - Hardcoverby Iric Nathanson (Author) When the United States made a formal declaration of war on April 6, 1917, Minnesotans answered the call to arms. Duluth, with its strategic location at the head of the Great Lakes, emerged as a major shipbuilding center. Over forty thousand men registered for the draft in Minneapolis alone. Yet many members of the state s large German American population struggled with divided loyalties. A xenophobic fervor swept through the