Around the nation and the world
- 1917, Four days after receiving the request from President Woodrow Wilson, the United States Congress declares war on Germany and join the allies in World War I.
- 1917, The 18th Amendment, ratified in 1918, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcoholic beverages for consumption: repealed in 1933.1918, The influenza epidemic Spanish flu spans the globe, killing over twenty million worldwide and five hundred and forty-eight thousand people in the United States.
- 1919, The Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending World War I.
Around campus
- 1910, St. Patrick’s Day, sponsored by civil engineering students, is celebrated in March. It is absorbed by VEISHEA in 1922.
- 1910, An acute housing shortage occurs on the campus. The college has 1,562 students but only 88 beds in residential campus housing.
- 1912, The first Homecoming celebration is held.
- 1913, The Graduate College (Graduate Division, 1913-1919) is established.
- 1916, The college lake is named Lake LaVerne for LaVerne Noyes, who donates $10,000 for constructing the lake and for other landscape projects.
- 1917, The Civil Engineering Summer Camp was “temporarily discontinued” in 1917 at the outbreak of the First World War.