Clearly one of the most colorful characters in the pallette of time is Lillie Coit. Brought to San Francisco by her mother in 1851 from New York State, she enjoyed the best schools and upbringing. She is most known for her passionate love of firemen and firehouses. More than a romantic attraction to men in uniform, she actually helped to fight fires on numerous occasions, alongside the men she so admired. She was known to have very formal parties to help fight fires when she heard sirens. The psychological reason for Lillie's affinity for all things pyrotechnic may tyed to the fact that her eccentric mother burned down the plantation on which she was unable to pay taxes on her way out of town with Lillie. In 1929, she left $100,000 to her adopted city to erect what became to be Coit Tower on the site of Telegraph Hill's signal station, as a memorial to San Francisco's firemen.