Belle Skinner

Who was Belle Skinner?

Ruth Isabel Skinner was an American businesswoman. She was a daughter of silk manufacturer William Skinner and his second wife, the former Sarah Elizabeth Allen. Belle Skinner was a humanitarian and music-lover whose life her brother William memorialized in the construction of the Skinner Hall of Music at Vassar in 1932. She lived most of her life in Wistariahurst in Holyoke, Massachusetts, now an historic site. She renovated and expanded this house to reflect her interests, including adding the music room, where she housed her musical instrument collection, now housed at Yale University.

After the first world war, Belle Skinner helped rebuild the small town of Hattonchâtel and Château de Hattonchâtel.