THIS LOOK east to Second Hill from the eastern slope of First Hill is both rare and puzzling. The original comes from Ron Edge, a frequent help to this feature, who acquired it as part of a small collection of early-20th-century Seattle subjects originally recorded or collected by a company that produced Magic Lantern shows.

We reckon, however, that the status of Second Hill development in 1905 — our estimated date of this cityscape — is an unlikely lantern subject. Perhaps, instead, it was a special order from either the parish at Immaculate Conception Church or Seattle College (Seattle University since 1948). This is our guess because the view looks east from the campus of Seattle U to the new sanctuary of the church on the horizon at the southeast corner of East Marion Street and 18th Avenue.

On Dec. 4, 1904, parishioners and priests joined in a procession from First Hill up Second for the dedication of those two cross-topped towers and the nearly 1,000 seats beneath them.

For 10 years before then, these Catholics had been teaching and worshipping in what still survives as the original building on the Seattle University campus, the Garrand Building, named for the school's founder. It was built in 1894 by the Jesuit order for its ministry at Immaculate Conception.

The homes closest to the historical photographer and facing 12th Avenue are now gone. But behind them are many survivors climbing the hill. We easily found eight. In Jean's repeat some of these are hidden behind the imaginative mass of Seattle U's Chapel of St. Ignatius.

Check out Paul Dorpat and Jean Sherrard's blog at www.pauldorpat.com.