Name Belle Skinner | ||
Full Name Ruth Isabel Skinner Born April 30, 1866 ( 1866-04-30 ) Williamsburg, Massachusetts, U.S. Died April 9, 1928, Paris, France | ||
Ruth Isabelle Skinner (born April 30, 1866) was an American businesswoman. She was a daughter of silk manufacturer William Skinner (1824-1902) and his second wife, the former Sarah Elizabeth Allen (1834-1908). 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 College in 1932. She lived most of her life at the family home, 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.