Day 22: 125 Days of TEL HI
September 30, 2014
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Lillie Hitchcock Coit was an eccentric figure in the history of the Telegraph Hill neighborhood. She was a wealthy socialite who would often dress as a man in order to gamble in the male-only casinos throughout North Beach. Also, he was fascinated with firefighting. At the age of fifteen, she reportedly helped a short handed fire engine get up the hill to a fire and since then, has been named an honorary firefighter.
Her love for the community shines most evidently within her bequest. Upon her death in 1929, she left one-third of her fortune “to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved.” And with that, Coit Tower was erected in 1933 and remains today one of the shining gems of our neighborhood.
