But difficulties soon arose. The goal of obtaining 2,500 resident members proved a hard one, not fully attained until December 1918. Four hundred determined new members, the “digger,” marched in the rain from the West Hotel at Hennepin and Fifth Street to the building site for a groundbreaking on April 24, 1913, but with little cash, prospects for the new club seemed as bleak as the weather. Charles Fowler wrote later that he and the other officers didn’t want to excavate until all the funding was in hand, but new members, some of whom had paid in full, were so enthusiastic that the leaders began excavating against their better judgment in a huge “confidence” game.

When adding new members to the roster proved difficult that summer, Genslinger displayed his great organizing talent, arranging the famous walk of Edward Payson Weston from New York to Minneapolis to lay the cornerstone of the new clubhouse. Weston, who was 75 years old, walked the 1,500 miles in 60 days. Covered by large newspapers across the country, the walk caught the imagination of the nation, helping to bring new members, new energy and confidence to the MAC.

The day for laying the cornerstone, August 3, 1913, was bright and sunny. Governor Adolph O. Eberhardt was present as were Minneapolis Mayor Wallace G. Nye and President of the University of Minnesota George E. Vincent. Also attending were Minneapolis Club neighbors including Thomas L. Shevlin, W. W. Heffelfinger and Col. Earle D. Luce. The day’s 17-event track-and-field meet, sponsored by the new Minneapolis Club, emphasized the importance of the club’s middle name. Still, a major portion of the 1,800 members recruited by that day had chosen deferred payment membership plans.

Another difficulty arose in April 1914 when World War I broke out in Europe, locking up financing expected from the sale of first mortgage bond issues. Because of its confidence in the integrity and ability of the MAC founders and members and its faith in the future of Minneapolis, however, the Minneapolis Trust Company and First National Bank soon released the money. That year the merger of the MAC with the Commercial Club of Minneapolis brought in 600 members, and its rooms in the Radisson Hotel on 7th Street were used by the MAC until the new clubhouse opened.