Lillie Hitchcock Coit (1842 – July 22, 1929 in San Francisco) was a well-known volunteer firefighter and the benefactor for the construction of the Coit Tower in San Francisco.
In 1851, she moved to California from West Point with her parents, Charles, an Army doctor, and Martha Hitchcock.
'Firebelle Lil' Coit was one of the more eccentric characters in the history of North Beach and Telegraph Hill, smoking cigars and wearing trousers long before...
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Lillie Hitchcock Coit (1842 – July 22, 1929 in San Francisco) was a well-known volunteer firefighter and the benefactor for the construction of the Coit Tower in San Francisco.
In 1851, she moved to California from West Point with her parents, Charles, an Army doctor, and Martha Hitchcock.
'Firebelle Lil' Coit was one of the more eccentric characters in the history of North Beach and Telegraph Hill, smoking cigars and wearing trousers long before it was socially acceptable for women to do so. She was an avid gambler and often dressed like a man in order to gamble in the males-only establishments that dotted North Beach. Coit was reputed to have shaved her head so her wigs would fit better.
Lillie had a special relationship with the city's firefighters. She had from very early days of her life been fascinated and enamored of the red shirted and helmeted fire fighters. At the age of fifteen she witnessed the Knickerbocker Engine Co. No. 5 in response to a fire call up on Telegraph Hill...
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