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.
She had a special relationship with the city's firefighters, having been rescued from a fire at the age of eight. By the age of fifteen, she was riding the Knickerbocker Engine Co. 5. and as an adult was recognized as an honorary firefighter.
Coit Tower is built on the site of the first west coast telegraph, a semaphore line completed in 1849. Coit commissioned another neighborhood landmark, a statue of three firefighters on the southwest corner of Washington Square Park.
