The opening of the 14-story clubhouse on August 16, 1915, was a joyful occasion at which members and their wives toured the various floors from bottom to top.

Construction of the clubhouse cost $68,651. That plus the lot at $85,000 and the furnishings brought the grand total to $900,000. Organizer Genslinger had been paid previously by arrangement with the Advisory Committee. He was to receive 10 percent of all the membership fees he brought in between November 1, 1912 and November 1, 1913. In that time he sold approximately 1,800 memberships with commissions of about $18,000, an excellent year’s compensation for those times.

The members of the MAC settled into enjoying the facilities of their new clubhouse for the next couple years. Then World War I, an ocean away until April 6, 1917, when the United States entered the fray, saw many members and associates leave to join the service. The MAC was hard hit when Ted Peterson, manager of the popular Bath Department, was killed in action. Members at home faced meatless and wheatless days and entertained less than they had in peacetime.

President Belden and the Board of Directors declared in December 1917 that the MAC would be "dry" until the war ended. The club apparently did not suffer financially from the war, and on September 26, 1918, President Belden and other MACers helped celebrate the opening of the St. Paul Athletic Club. Nevertheless, there was great rejoicing when the war ended on Armistice Day, November 11, that year.

Leon Warner of the Warner Hardware Stores followed Belden as the MAC’s fourth president, in office when the oriental game of mah-jongg became popular. He was succeeded by Clint Stacy of the Stacy Fruit and Produce Company, whose regime saw the installation of new bowling alleys and billiard tables. The strenuous Charleston was the dance of choice, and the MAC’s celebrated its 10th Anniversary with a ball and a special issue of the Gopher-M. An observation lounge was added on the second floor.

During these post-war years, fathers thought their sons should learn the art of self-defense, so boxing matches staged in an improvised ring in the gym were popular. J. Paul Getter, who learned to box at age 13 at the Minneapolis Club in the Syndicate Building on Nicollet Avenue in 1906, later became one of the world’s great oil barons.

In 1927 Harry Shepardson, head of Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company, became president. He sent a congratulatory telegram to Minnesota native Charles Lindbergh, who had just flown solo across the Atlantic to Paris in 33 hours and 29 minutes. Shortly thereafter, the MAC dining room was redecorated at a cost of $11,000.

Ell Torrance Jr. took the reins in 1929, the year the Rand Tower (now the Dain), the Northwestern Bank Building (destroyed by fire and replaced by the present Norwest Bank Tower) and the Foshay Tower were built. On October 29 that year, the stock market crashed.