I've got a few more details. I don't know how I missed this, but remember that this is an Eddystone model. There are 'E' stamps on many of the different parts. However, I finally did find the date located on the barrel - 11/17. But, according to my serial number search, this Eddystone was manufactured in 11/18. The other thing I found was above the date on the barrel, is an 'R' not an 'E', and some sort of cartouche. So, my guess is this gun went through the arsenal rebuild program and was rebarrelled with a Remington barrel.
I found a gunsmith here in town and I have dropped it off with him to clean, order/install missing magazine box, spring, and follower, and make whatever other fixes are needed to make the gun operational. He said that based on the shiny finish, someone tried to make it look nice, but it's not in the original fashion. More importantly, he immediately noticed that the trigger spring was missing. Without that spring, if a round was loaded while the safety was on, then when the safety was switched off, the gun would fire even without pulling the trigger - that's a problem! He's fixing that.
The only other detail I have is just a little piece of history about the gun itself. My grandfather ran an armory in Albertville, Alabama, and my guess (along with my dad's guess) is that it came through that Armory and he ended up with it for some reason. My dad remembers it being wrapped in plastic and covered in grease (not sure why) and stored in the rafters in their attic. I'm not sure what that's all about!
In any case, by next week I may have an operational M1917. Thank you all for your advice and comments.