Mike Humbert's Idiosyncratic Guide to San Francisco, page 20

COIT TOWER

It would be fair to say Lillie Hitchcock Coit was a firefighter groupie. From the time she was ten years old, rather than being a proper young debutante, Lillie would shamelessly chase Knickerbocker Engine 5 down the street, cherring them on. Eventually, she became an honorary memeber of the squad, and even had her own helmet.

When she died in 1929, her will left a pile of money to construct a memorial to the firefighters who died in the 1906 fire.

Contrary to urban legend, the 210-foot tower is not a firewatch station, nor was it designed to resemble a firehose nozzle.