1914 World War I begins. Minneapolis becomes the home of the Federal Reserve Bank. The United States of America enters World War I. 118,497 men from Minnesota serve in the war. 1918 World War I ends with 1,432 Minnesotans in uniform giving their lives for their country. The new Farmer-Labor Party becomes the second largest political party in Minnesota and capitalizes on the rural depression which plagues Minnesota until 1824 to gain a broad base of support.
Influenza spreads to Minnesota.
Cloquet and Moose Lake, Minnesota are destroyed when seventy mile an hour winds change minor forest fires into major conflagrations. A tornado strikes Fergus Falls, Minnesota killing 59. 1920 Minnesota authors receive international recognition. Main Street, written by Sinclair Lewis, earns national recognition as he takes a critical look at his hometown of Sauk Centre, Minnesota. By the end of the decade he had won the Nobel Prize for literature after a string of four more novels won international acclaim.