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Minnesota Home Guard
When the Minnesota National Guard was federalized in the spring of 1917, the state was left without any military organization. To defend the state’s resources, the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety (MCPS) created the Minnesota Home Guard. The Home Guard existed for the duration of World War I, and units performed both civilian and military duties.
The MCPS created the Home Guard on April 28, 1917, to ensure public safety and protect citizens’ lives and property. Unofficially, the Home Guard was created to enforce the MCPS’s orders, many of which infringed on the rights of citizens.
Home Guard volunteers served for the duration of World War I. They were not paid unless they committed to extended active duty. Only men over the age of twenty-six were recruited. The Home Guard operated under the command of Minnesota Adjutant General Walter F. Rhinow and under the ultimate authority of Governor J.A.A. Burnquist.
Guard volunteers were armed with some weapons from the federal government, but most procured arms from military academies in the state and their home communities. Uniforms were provided by Adjutant General Rhinow or were manufactured and paid for through fundraising. Officers purchased their own uniforms. These uniforms followed the U.S. regulation pattern.
Eventually, twenty-three battalions exceeding seven thousand men were recruited. After petitioning the governor, African Americans formed the Sixteenth Battalion—the only battalion that allowed men of color to enlist.
In 1918 the Home Guard was augmented by a Motor Corps. Though organized in a military fashion, the Motor Corps was not recognized by any government act. Members volunteered themselves and their vehicles to the state. They performed duties alongside the Home Guard and many considered them to be part of it. The Motor Corps numbered over 2,500 men in ten battalions.
The Home Guard performed a number of basic duties during its existence. Units marched in parades and participated in patriotic gatherings. They provided honor guards at funerals, sold liberty bonds, and supported the Red Cross. Members of the Home Guard harvested crops and escorted enlisted men to train stations when they left to serve. A number of units conducted “slacker raids” in which they tracked down men who were not abiding by the laws of the draft. The largest of these took place in St. Paul, where over five hundred men were arrested.
The Home Guard played an important role in disaster relief in 1918. On July 1, 1918, a tornado swept through the town of Tyler. General Rhinow commanded the relief effort, which was carried out by members of the Home Guard and National Guard. On October 12, 1918, a devastating fire destroyed thirty-eight communities in northeastern Minnesota. Units of the Home Guard from Duluth and the Iron Range fought the fire. Afterward they provided first aid and security and buried the dead.
The MCPS employed the Home Guard as a de facto police force to quell labor disputes. Most famously, the Home Guard was used to break a strike of Twin City Rapid Transit workers in the winter of 1917. After dispersing a crowd of thousands, the Home Guard closed off six square blocks of downtown St. Paul. Most pro-labor advocates saw the Home Guard as a tool of business interests and the private army of a dictatorial governor. Use of the Home Guard helped lead to the unification of the Nonpartisan League and labor interests. In addition, with temperance movements on the rise, the Home Guard was used to force the closure of saloons in Blooming Prairie.
At times, the Home Guard helped bring stability to Minnesota during the World War I years. However, it was also a wedge that further divided opinion on issues like sedition and free speech, labor and business, loyalty and disloyalty, and race. Many people felt it was necessary; others thought it infringed on the rights of citizens. When the armistice with Germany was signed, Home Guard units began to muster out on their own accord. Some units were incorporated into the Minnesota National Guard when it was reorganized after the war. In December of 1920, the MCPS was officially dissolved and all of its orders, including the Home Guard, were voided.

Bibliography
“Auxiliary Denied Use of U.S. Uniform.” Grand Marais Cook County News-Herald, July 11, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016544/1917-07-11/ed-1/seq-3/
Boorom, Jeff, and Stephen Osman. Email message to the author, October 13–15, 2014.
Buell, C.J. The Minnesota Legislature of 1919. [St. Paul?: C.J. Buell, 1919?].
http://www.leg.state.mn.us/docs/NonMNpub/oclc00500242.pdf
Carroll, Francis M. and Franklin R. Raiter. The Fires of Autumn: The Cloquet—Moose Lake Disaster of 1918. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1990.
Chrislock, Carl H. Watchdog of Loyalty: The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety During World War I. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1991.
Collected Materials, 1917–[192–]
Minnesota War Records Commission
State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Papers of individuals, records of organizations, and printed materials relating to wartime activities, collected or compiled by the War Records Commission. Orders for several Home Guard units are included in the collection.
“Duties of Home Guards Explained; Questions Answered by Towne.” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, June 22, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1917-06-22/ed-1/seq-1/
“Five Thousand Riot in St. Paul Streets; Cut Trolley Wires.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 3, 1917.
Funkley, Henry. “Home Guard Necessary.” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, December 18, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1917-12-18/ed-1/seq-2/
Holbrook, Franklin F., ed. St. Paul and Ramsey County in the War of 1917–1918. St. Paul: Ramsey County War Records Commission, 1929.
——— , and Livia Appel. Minnesota in the War with Germany. 2 vols. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1928.
“Home Guard has 7,501 Men in State.” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, April 22, 1918.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1918-04-22/ed-1/seq-4/
Home Guard Records, 1917–1919
Minnesota National Guard
State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/gr00862.xml
Description: Records documenting the duties and activities of the Home Guard by battalion.
“Home Guards Arrest 500 in Slacker Raid.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, July 7, 1918.
“Home Guards Called for by Safety Board.” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, April 4, 1917.
Luukkonen, Arnold L. “Brave Men in Their Motor Machines—And the 1918 Forest Fire.” Ramsey County History 9, no. 2 (Fall 1972): 3–8.
Millikan, William. “Defenders of Business: the Minneapolis Civic and Commerce Association Versus Labor During W.W. I.” Minnesota History 50, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 2–17.
http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/50/v50i01p002-017.pdf
SAM 1
Military Service Record Cards, [c.1860]–[c.1945]
Minnesota Office of the Adjutant General
State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/sam001.xml
Description: The collection includes cards that provide information about individuals who served in the Minnesota Home Guard during World War I.
“Oaths to be taken in Home Guard.” St. Paul Sunday Pioneer Press, April 29, 1917.
“Oppose Military Rule.” White Earth Tomahawk, March 13, 1919.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89064695/1919-03-13/ed-1/seq-7/
Rhinow, W. F. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Minnesota covering the Thirteenth Biennial Period Ending December 31, 1918. Vol. 1. Minneapolis, MN: Syndicate Printing Co., 1918.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Gj4WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA340&lpg=PA340&dq=adjutant+general+report+minnesota+1917&source=bl&ots=kAV2FAUdZN&sig=PU11b3ruDqwx98vWiZARSUQ-8js&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JMkuVIK4GY-hyATivoKgAg&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
“State Home Guard Call Issued by Safety Board.” St. Paul Sunday Pioneer Press, April 29, 1917.
“Trades Assembly Delegates in Warm Debate Over Home Guard.” Duluth Labor World, August 16, 1919.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1919-08-16/ed-1/seq-6/
“2,500 Rioters Attack Trolley Cars; 40 Men Hurt; Home Guard Called out; Night Traffic Halted.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 3, 1917.
Related Resources
Primary
“Bemidji Ready for any Call; Home Guard, Motor Corps.” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, October 17, 1918.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1918-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/
“Blooming Prairie is Quiet Awaiting Next Liquor Move.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, July 3, 1918.
“Dead Lie in Ashes of Forest Fire as Troops Hunt Living.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 15, 1918.
A/.K18
Edward Karrow Scrapbooks, 1917–1925
Manuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Edward Karrow served in several military organizations during World War I. He was a captain in the Thirteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard. His scrapbooks include official correspondence, orders, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera.
“Fires Wipe Out North Minnesota and Wisconsin Towns; Cloquet Reported Burned, Hundreds Dead; 9,000 Refugees.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 13, 1918.
“Home Guard Company Now Organized.” Warren Sheaf, May 1, 1918.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059228/1918-05-01/ed-1/seq-2/
“Home Guard Drill.” Warren Sheaf, June 26, 1918.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059228/1918-06-26/ed-1/seq-10/
P448
J.A.A. Burnquist Papers, 1884–1961
Manuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Papers of Minnesota’s governor (1915–1921) include correspondence related the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety, Minnesota Home Guard, and the Motor Corps.
“Local Home Guard.” Princeton Union, September 6, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016758/1917-09-06/ed-1/seq-1/
“Scores Dead in Up-State Forest Fires.” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, October 13, 1918.
“3 Blooming Prairie Saloons Closed by Rhinow and Soldiers.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, July 2, 1918.
Secondary
Blegen, Theodore C. Minnesota: A History of the State. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1975.
Folwell, William Watts. A History of Minnesota. Vol. 3. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004. Reprint of 1969 edition.
In the World War: Fillmore County, Minnesota. Lanesboro, MN: Ola M. Levang, 1920.
Kunz, Virginia Brainard. Muskets to Missiles: A Military History of Minnesota. St. Paul: Minnesota Statehood Centennial Commission, 1958.
Norman County Minnesota in the World War. Ada, MN: Pfund and Wentsel, 1922.
Taylor, David Vassar. Cap Wigington: An Architectural Legacy in Ice and Stone. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001.
Web
Minnesota Historical Society Library, History Topics. 1917 Twin City Rapid Transit Company Street Railway Strike.
http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/78rapidtransit.php
Related Images
Members of Company A, Sixteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard, ca.1918. Standing at right is Captain Clarence Wigington, who petitioned the governor to allow the formation of an African American unit. To his left is Lieutenant Homer Goins. Seated (L to R) are Dr. George Berry and Sergeant William Griffin. The remaining pictured are unidentified.
Special Deputy Sheriff, Ramsey County badge, issued to members of the Minnesota Home Guard during the Twin Cities Streetcar strike, 1917. This badge was worn by Edward Karow, Captain in the Thirteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard. Original badge is in the Edward Karow Scrapbooks, 1917–1925, Manuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.

Parade of Minnesota Home Guard in St. Paul
Minnesota Home Guard on parade in St. Paul, 1917. Photograph by the St. Paul Dispatch.
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Members of the Minnesota Home Guard
Three members of the Minnesota Home Guard during the Streetcar workers strike of 1917. The stars they wear designate them as special deputy sheriffs of Ramsey County.
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A.A. Baker, Special Deputy Sheriff, Ramsey County and member of the Minnesota Home Guard
A. A. Baker, member of the Minnesota Home Guard, 1917. The star he wears designates him as a special deputy sheriff sworn in during the Streetcar Workers Strike.
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Company A, Third Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard
Company A of the Third Battalion, Minnesota Home Guard, from Duluth, 1917.
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Governor Burnquist with officers of the Minnesota Home Guard and Motor Corps
Governor Burnquist with officers of the Minnesota Home guard and Motor Corps, c.1918.
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Dr. Obadiah D. Howard, Sergeant in the Sixteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard, and his grandson
Dr. Obadiah D. Howard, Sergeant in the Sixteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard, and his grandson, Howard Maxwell, 1918.
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Minnesota Home Guard Camp during the fires of 1918
Minnesota Home Guard Camp during the fires of 1918.
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Minnesota Home Guardsmen burying dead of the Fires of 1918
The fires in Northeastern Minnesota killed over 450 people in October of 1918. Along with providing security and relief services, members of the Minnesota Home Guard buried the dead.
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A full Battalion of Minnesota Home Guard at Glenwood Park, Minneapolis
A full Battalion of Minnesota Home Guard at Glenwood Park, Minneapolis, 1918.
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Minnesota Home Guard Band
A Minnesota Home Guard Band, c.1918.
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Minnesota Home Guard at Camp Pershing
Members of the Minnesota Home Guard at Camp Pershing, c.1918.
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Members of the Sixteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard
Members of the Sixteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard, c.1918. After petitioning the governor, African American citizens formed their own battalion in order to serve.
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Members of Company A, Sixteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard
Members of Company A, Sixteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard, ca.1918. Standing at right is Captain Clarence Wigington, who petitioned the governor to allow the formation of an African American unit. To his left is Lieutenant Homer Goins. Seated (L to R) are Dr. George Berry and Sergeant William Griffin. The remaining pictured are unidentified.
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Fourth Battalion Band, Minnesota Home Guard
Fourth Battalion Band, Minnesota Home Guard, c.1918.
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Minnesota Adjutant General Walter F. Rhinow
Adjutant General Walter F. Rhinow, commander of all state troops, including the Minnesota Home Guard, c.1918.
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Advertisement for Sixteenth Battalion Band concert
An advertisement for a concert put on by the Sixteenth Battalion Band from the St. Paul Appeal, October 25, 1919. The band was led by Lieutenant William Howard.
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Minnesota Home Guard uniform sack coat
Minnesota Home Guard sack coat.
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Minnesota Home Guard, Motor Corps Cap
Minnesota Home Guard, Motor Corps Cap, showing Motor Corps insignia.
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Special Deputy Sheriff, Ramsey County badge
Special Deputy Sheriff, Ramsey County badge, issued to members of the Minnesota Home Guard during the Twin Cities Streetcar strike, 1917. This badge was worn by Edward Karow, Captain in the Thirteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard. Original badge is in the Edward Karow Scrapbooks, 1917–1925, Manuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
All rights reserved
Holding Location
Related Articles
Turning Point
On April 28, 1917, the Minnesota Home Guard is created by an order of the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety.
Chronology
April 28, 1917
December 2, 1917
January 1, 1918
April, 1918
July 1, 1918
July 6, 1918
August 21, 1918
October, 1918
November, 1918
December, 15, 1920
Bibliography
“Auxiliary Denied Use of U.S. Uniform.” Grand Marais Cook County News-Herald, July 11, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016544/1917-07-11/ed-1/seq-3/
Boorom, Jeff, and Stephen Osman. Email message to the author, October 13–15, 2014.
Buell, C.J. The Minnesota Legislature of 1919. [St. Paul?: C.J. Buell, 1919?].
http://www.leg.state.mn.us/docs/NonMNpub/oclc00500242.pdf
Carroll, Francis M. and Franklin R. Raiter. The Fires of Autumn: The Cloquet—Moose Lake Disaster of 1918. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1990.
Chrislock, Carl H. Watchdog of Loyalty: The Minnesota Commission of Public Safety During World War I. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1991.
Collected Materials, 1917–[192–]
Minnesota War Records Commission
State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Papers of individuals, records of organizations, and printed materials relating to wartime activities, collected or compiled by the War Records Commission. Orders for several Home Guard units are included in the collection.
“Duties of Home Guards Explained; Questions Answered by Towne.” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, June 22, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1917-06-22/ed-1/seq-1/
“Five Thousand Riot in St. Paul Streets; Cut Trolley Wires.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, December 3, 1917.
Funkley, Henry. “Home Guard Necessary.” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, December 18, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1917-12-18/ed-1/seq-2/
Holbrook, Franklin F., ed. St. Paul and Ramsey County in the War of 1917–1918. St. Paul: Ramsey County War Records Commission, 1929.
——— , and Livia Appel. Minnesota in the War with Germany. 2 vols. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1928.
“Home Guard has 7,501 Men in State.” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, April 22, 1918.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1918-04-22/ed-1/seq-4/
Home Guard Records, 1917–1919
Minnesota National Guard
State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/gr00862.xml
Description: Records documenting the duties and activities of the Home Guard by battalion.
“Home Guards Arrest 500 in Slacker Raid.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, July 7, 1918.
“Home Guards Called for by Safety Board.” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, April 4, 1917.
Luukkonen, Arnold L. “Brave Men in Their Motor Machines—And the 1918 Forest Fire.” Ramsey County History 9, no. 2 (Fall 1972): 3–8.
Millikan, William. “Defenders of Business: the Minneapolis Civic and Commerce Association Versus Labor During W.W. I.” Minnesota History 50, no. 1 (Spring 1986): 2–17.
http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/50/v50i01p002-017.pdf
SAM 1
Military Service Record Cards, [c.1860]–[c.1945]
Minnesota Office of the Adjutant General
State Archives Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/sam001.xml
Description: The collection includes cards that provide information about individuals who served in the Minnesota Home Guard during World War I.
“Oaths to be taken in Home Guard.” St. Paul Sunday Pioneer Press, April 29, 1917.
“Oppose Military Rule.” White Earth Tomahawk, March 13, 1919.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89064695/1919-03-13/ed-1/seq-7/
Rhinow, W. F. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Minnesota covering the Thirteenth Biennial Period Ending December 31, 1918. Vol. 1. Minneapolis, MN: Syndicate Printing Co., 1918.
http://books.google.com/books?id=Gj4WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA340&lpg=PA340&dq=adjutant+general+report+minnesota+1917&source=bl&ots=kAV2FAUdZN&sig=PU11b3ruDqwx98vWiZARSUQ-8js&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JMkuVIK4GY-hyATivoKgAg&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
“State Home Guard Call Issued by Safety Board.” St. Paul Sunday Pioneer Press, April 29, 1917.
“Trades Assembly Delegates in Warm Debate Over Home Guard.” Duluth Labor World, August 16, 1919.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1919-08-16/ed-1/seq-6/
“2,500 Rioters Attack Trolley Cars; 40 Men Hurt; Home Guard Called out; Night Traffic Halted.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 3, 1917.
Related Resources
Primary
“Bemidji Ready for any Call; Home Guard, Motor Corps.” Bemidji Daily Pioneer, October 17, 1918.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/1918-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/
“Blooming Prairie is Quiet Awaiting Next Liquor Move.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, July 3, 1918.
“Dead Lie in Ashes of Forest Fire as Troops Hunt Living.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, October 15, 1918.
A/.K18
Edward Karrow Scrapbooks, 1917–1925
Manuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Edward Karrow served in several military organizations during World War I. He was a captain in the Thirteenth Battalion of the Minnesota Home Guard. His scrapbooks include official correspondence, orders, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera.
“Fires Wipe Out North Minnesota and Wisconsin Towns; Cloquet Reported Burned, Hundreds Dead; 9,000 Refugees.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, October 13, 1918.
“Home Guard Company Now Organized.” Warren Sheaf, May 1, 1918.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059228/1918-05-01/ed-1/seq-2/
“Home Guard Drill.” Warren Sheaf, June 26, 1918.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059228/1918-06-26/ed-1/seq-10/
P448
J.A.A. Burnquist Papers, 1884–1961
Manuscript Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul
Description: Papers of Minnesota’s governor (1915–1921) include correspondence related the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety, Minnesota Home Guard, and the Motor Corps.
“Local Home Guard.” Princeton Union, September 6, 1917.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016758/1917-09-06/ed-1/seq-1/
“Scores Dead in Up-State Forest Fires.” Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, October 13, 1918.
“3 Blooming Prairie Saloons Closed by Rhinow and Soldiers.” Minneapolis Morning Tribune, July 2, 1918.
Secondary
Blegen, Theodore C. Minnesota: A History of the State. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1975.
Folwell, William Watts. A History of Minnesota. Vol. 3. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004. Reprint of 1969 edition.
In the World War: Fillmore County, Minnesota. Lanesboro, MN: Ola M. Levang, 1920.
Kunz, Virginia Brainard. Muskets to Missiles: A Military History of Minnesota. St. Paul: Minnesota Statehood Centennial Commission, 1958.
Norman County Minnesota in the World War. Ada, MN: Pfund and Wentsel, 1922.
Taylor, David Vassar. Cap Wigington: An Architectural Legacy in Ice and Stone. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001.
Web
Minnesota Historical Society Library, History Topics. 1917 Twin City Rapid Transit Company Street Railway Strike.
http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/78rapidtransit.php