Volunteer Hose Co. No. 4 tests pressure in the vacant lot at the northeast corner of First Avenue and Battery Street. For most of the 1880s and '90s, this corner was one of the most popular hardball diamonds in the city.

	For much of its "built" history, the northwest corner of Battery Street and First Avenue featured a recycled rocket as a sign for an army surplus store. In 1993 it was replaced with the Belltown Court Apartments. In 1996 they were converted to condominiums

ON THE BACK of this scene held in the Museum of History & Industry's photography collection are seven messages, hand-written, typed and/or stamped, like "6944," the number of the print. Two of the flip-side contributions are signed. Larry Hoffman wrote the longer message, which reads: "Large bldg. on right was north side of the Bellevue Hotel, which fronted on 1st Avenue just north of the tall old brick buildings in the Belltown area."

Larry Hoffman arrived in Seattle in 1920, a teenager. Now 95, he still lives in the same North Seattle home where, in his own darkroom, he handled most of the photo work for the museum 30-some years ago, before MOHAI had its own darkroom.

Hoffman is right. There, on the far right, is the rear of the old Bellevue Hotel at the southeast corner of First Avenue and Battery Street. Pioneer William Bell's hotel survived until 1937.

Very likely William Cousins, the second signer, donated this print to the museum. Cousins' offering reads: "This picture was taken as (sic) early spring 1889. William Keron and Jimmie MaCombs belonged to it." Dated Feb. 26, 1955, this message has been interpreted by the museum with its own official typed caption. Also on the back, it reads, in part, "Fire Dept. Hose Brigade drill, spring 1889."

If this description is correct, it should excite local fire historians. In the spring of 1889 (before the "Great Fire" of that June) the Seattle Fire Department was still a volunteer affair. In 1888 fire chief Josiah Collins, Jr., recommended a new hose carriage in Belltown, or "Hose 4," as it was known. This is probably it. Very possibly the frame structure, left-center, is the volunteer firehouse. The Seattle Fire Department's most recent 1989 history claims "no picture known to exist." Here, perhaps, one has been uncovered. William Boyd recorded this scene. In the 1890 city directory (assembled in 1889) his studio is listed less than one block away at 2310 First Ave.

Paul Dorpat's two-hour videotape on Seattle's early history, "Seattle Chronicle," is $29.95 from Tartu Publications, P.O. Box 85208, Seattle, WA 98145.