On May 27, 1911, the 500-pound bell that used to ring the arrival and departure of steamboat visitors to Coney Island’s Dreamland Pier sank below the waves along with the pier itself in a devastating fire.

There it remained in its watery grave until commercial diver and Coney Island native Gene Ritter recovered it last month.

The pier, and its artifacts, were thought lost forever until Gene Ritter, a professional diver in Brooklyn, discovered remnants of Dreamland in 1990. Many dives later — in the warm, clear water of an afternoon last November — Mr. Ritter and one of his diving partners, Louie Scarcella, found the bell. It sat 25 feet down, upright but tilted slightly in the sand, Mr. Ritter said. “I couldn’t believe my eyes,” he said.

The bell was lifted from the sea with inflatable bags last month and towed to the Gateway Marina on Flatbush Avenue. It was then hauled by crane onto land. The bell was in good condition and had mostly “resisted marine growth,” said Mr. Denson, the executive director of the Coney Island History Project. Mr. Ritter said he wanted to return to the dive site in a bigger boat to check for other items. “Every single artifact we find will stay here,” he said. “They belong to the people.”

It was in great condition when he found it. The bronze finish was looking a little green around the gills, but there were no severe incrustations or rust. The inscription on the bell — a dedication to trapeze artist and founding member of the Gregory Brothers Circus James Gregory, plus the casting date of 1885 — looked pristine. They even managed to ring it and it still sounded good after living 25 feet deep under the Atlantic for 98 years.

Now the bell has been lovingly restored and is on display at the Brooklyn Borough Hall. It’s the only major artifact to survive the devastating 1911 fire. The 1,200-foot pier itself was iron so just sort of melted into the ocean. The Dreamland park ended up a twisted pile of rubble.

The fire began in the Hell Gate ride where boats were drawn down into a swirling pool. Some workers doing late night roof repairs before the season was to open the next day dropped a bucket of hot tar when some light bulbs burst. The sparks ignited the tar and next thing you know, the Hell Gate ushered in an inferno.

That stump in the middle of picture was all that remained of the Dreamland Tower, a 375-foot tower decked out in 100,00 lights that could be seen from Manhattan back when even the tallest structures were just 10 stories high. Look how pretty it was lit up at night:

For more about Dreamland Park and the fire, see this fantastic essay.