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At the age of fifteen she witnessed the Knickerbocker Engine Company Number Five responding to a fire atop Telegraph Hill. At the sounding of the firewagon bell, she would chase the firewagons and assist anyway she could.īefore 1866, there was no city fire department, and fires in the city, which broke out, were extinguished by several volunteer fire companies. Lillian Hitchcock Coit, for whom the tower is named, was a well-known patroness of San Francisco’s volunteer firefighters. Anachronistic as it might seem, the bronze statue of Christopher Columbus was placed in Pioneer Park in 1957, donated by the city’s Italian-American community. The main feature of the park is Coit Tower. The park was established in 1876, celebrating the United States Centennial. We get a great aerial view of Pioneer Park, crowning the top of Telegraph Hill. During the Gold Rush eager residents, alerted by the semaphore, scrambled up the hill to watch paddle wheeled steamers and clipper ships sail into the bay. The semaphore consisted of a tall mast with movable arms that were positioned in various configurations depending on the type of ship. Telegraph Hill received its name in 1850 when a semaphore, also called a marine telegraph, was erected to replace the signal pole. In 1846 a signal pole was place atop Telegraph Hill to alert the town when ships approached.
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San Franciscans have always looked to Telegraph Hill, originally for the signal on its peak, which announced the arrival of ships.īefore the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, ships carrying mail, cargo, and loved ones were San Francisco’s primary link to the rest of the U.S. At 295-feet tall, Telegraph Hill is not the tallest, but certainly one of the most distinctive hills in San Francisco.
#Coit tower for free
The tower may be entered for free however, there is a fee to take the elevator to the top.Ĭoit Tower stands atop Telegraph Hill. Today, the vividly colored murals are considered the finest examples of Depression-era public art in California. Although an apocryphal story claims that the tower was designed to resemble a fire hose nozzle due to Lillian Hitchcock Coit’s affinity with San Francisco’s volunteer firefighter communityįresco Murals adorn the lobby of Coit Tower, murals painted in 1934 depict the discontent and hope many felt during the Great Depression. The art deco tower, built of unpainted reinforced concrete, was designed by architects Arthur Brown Jr., (also designed: San Francisco’s City Hall, War Memorial Opera House), and Henry Howard. Built in 1933 with funds bequeathed by Lillian Hitchcock Coit, in honor of all the volunteer firefighters of San Francisco, the 210-foot tall Coit Tower resembles an enormous Roman column.