Aromory hall, on Third street, between Cedar and Minnesota, was built in 1859, and was used by the Pioneer Guards up to the breaking out of the war. The annual ball of the Pioneer Guards was the swell affair of the social whirl, and it was anticipated with as much interest by the Four Hundred as the charity ball is to-day. The Pioneer Guards disbanded shortly after the war broke out, and many of its members were officers in the Union army, although two or three of them stole away and joined the Confederate forces, one of them serving on Lee's staff during the entire war. Col. Wilkin Col. King, Col. Farrell, Capt. Coates, Capt. Van Slyke, Capt. Western, Lieut. Zernberg and Lieut. Tuttle were early in the fray, while a number of others followed as the war progressed. * * * * * It was not until the winter of 1866-67 that St. Paul could boast of a genuine opera house. The old opera house fronting on Wabasha street, on the ground that is now occupied by the Grand block, was finished that winter and opened with a grand entertainment given by local talent. The boxes and a number of seats in the parquet were sold at auction, the highest bidder being a man by the name of Philbrick, who paid $72 for a seat in the parquet. This man Philbrick was a visitor in St. Paul, and had a retinue of seven or eight people with him. It was whispered around that he was some kind of a royal personage, and when he paid $72 for a seat at the opening of the opera house people were sure that he was at least a duke. He disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared. It was learned afterward that this mysterious person was Coal Oil Johnny out on a lark. The first regular company to occupy this theater was the Macfarland Dramatic company, with Emily Melville as the chief attraction. This little theater could seat about 1,000 people, and its seating capacity was taxed many a time long before the Grand opera house in the rear was constructed. Wendell Philips, Henry Ward Beecher, Theodore Tilton, Frederick Douglass and many others have addressed large audiences from the stage of this old opera house. An amusing incident occurred while Frederick Douglass was in St. Paul. Nearly every seat in the house had been sold long before the lecture was to commence, and when Mr. Douglass commenced speaking there was standing room only. A couple of enthusiastic Republicans found standing room in one of the small upper boxes, and directly in front of them was a well-known Democratic politician by the name of W.H. Shelley. Mr. Shelley had at one time been quite prominent in local Republican circles, but when Andrew Johnson made his famous swing around the circle Shelley got an idea that the proper thing to do was to swing around with him. Consequently the Republicans who stood up behind Mr. Shelley thought they would have a little amusement at his expense. Every time Mr. Douglass made a point worthy of applause these ungenerous Republicans would make a great