Lillie (Elizabeth) Hitchcock Coit (August 23, 1843 – July 22, 1929) was a patron of San Francisco's volunteer
firefighter
A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
s and the benefactor for the construction of the
Coit Tower in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
.
Life
Born in
West Point, New York
West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, West Point was identified by General George Washington as the most important strategic position in America during the Ame ...
, in 1843, she moved to California from West Point with her parents—Charles, an Army doctor, and Martha Hitchcock.
"Firebelle Lil" Coit was considered eccentric, smoking
cigar
A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...
s and wearing
trousers
Trousers (British English), slacks, or pants are an item of clothing worn from the waist to anywhere between the knees and the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending across both legs as in robes, skirts, and dr ...
long before it was socially acceptable for women to do so. She was an avid
gambler
Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three eleme ...
and often dressed like a man in order to gamble in the male-only establishments that dotted
North Beach.
Her father was successful and when he died he left a substantial inheritance.
As a young woman, she traveled to Europe with her mother. After her return, she married Howard Coit, the "caller" of the San Francisco Stock Exchange during an economic boom.
They separated in 1880, and he died in 1885 at age 47.
In 1903, Alexander Garrett, a distant cousin of Mrs. Coit, arrived at her Palace Hotel apartment armed with a gun to settle a business dispute. A friend of Mrs. Coit's, Major McClung, who was present in order to deliver a message to her was shot and killed while reportedly protecting Coit.
Toward the end of her life, Coit had a long stay in Europe but returned to San Francisco where she died in 1929.
[Carl Nolte]
"Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a San Francisco lady,"
''San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'', October 25, 2008.
Firefighting
Coit was fascinated by firefighters from a young age. At age 15, in 1858, she reportedly witnessed the Knickerbocker Engine Co. No. 5 respond to a fire call on Telegraph Hill when they were shorthanded, and helped them get up the hill ahead of other competing engine companies. Sources differ on whether this happened while she was coming home from school or coming from a rehearsal for a wedding.
She was thereafter treated as a "mascot" of the firefighters, and after her return from travel in Europe, in October 1863, she was made an honorary member of the engine company. She then rode along with the firefighters when they went to a fire or were in parades, and attended their annual banquets.
When volunteer firefighters were ill, she visited the sickbed, and when they died, Coit sent flowers and attended the funerals.
She continued this relationship with firefighting throughout her life, and after her death her ashes were placed into a mausoleum with a variety of firefighting-related memorials.
Bequest
Coit left one-third of her estate to the City of San Francisco "to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved".
The city used this bequest to build
Coit Tower on
Telegraph Hill A telegraph hill is a hill or other natural elevation that is chosen as part of an optical telegraph system.
Telegraph Hill may also refer to:
England
* A high point in the Haldon Hills, Devon
* Telegraph Hill, Dorset, a hill in the Dorset Down ...
.
The remainder of her bequest also sponsored another neighborhood landmark, a
statue of three firefighters at the northwest corner of Washington Square Park.
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coit, Lillie Hitchcock
1842 births
1929 deaths
American firefighters
American socialites
Female-to-male cross-dressers
History of firefighting
History of women in the United States
People from Highlands, New York
People from San Francisco
Philanthropists from New York (state)
Daughters of the American Revolution people
Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park