Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Holyoke: The Skinner Family and Wistariahurst
    Holyoke: The Skinner Family and Wistariahurst
    Holyoke: The Skinner Family and Wistariahurst
    Ebook192 pages43 minutes

    Holyoke: The Skinner Family and Wistariahurst

    By Kate Navarra Thibodeau

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Born in England in 1824, William Skinner was a tradesman who, at 19, immigrated to the United States. Skinner turned his skill and resourcefulness into a tremendous success. He first went to work in Northampton and eventually opened the Unquomonk Silk Mills in nearby Haydenville. Skinner would have remained there had a flood not destroyed his business. He built a new mill along the canals in Holyoke, one of America s first planned industrial cities, and moved his family home, Wistariahurst, to the city by dismantling it piece by piece. Residing in Holyoke for eight decades, the Skinner family contributed greatly to the community. Holyoke: The Skinner Family and Wistariahurst contains a rich legacy of photographs, letters, journals, and oral histories that provide an amazing view into life at Wistariahurst and the adventures of the family and their servants.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMar 8, 2006
    ISBN9781439616567
    Holyoke: The Skinner Family and Wistariahurst
    Author

    Kate Navarra Thibodeau

    Kate Navarra Thibodeau holds a master�s degree in American history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is a public historian and curator of Wistariahurst.

    Related to Holyoke

    Related ebooks

    United States History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Treasure Lost And Found

      Nov 30, 2018

      A Treasure Lost And Found
      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Nov 15, 2022

      Email wdytyaeditoriai@ourmedia.co.uk Write to WDYTYA? Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol BS1 4ST WIN an AncestryDNA test kit from ancestry.co.uk WORTH £79 The writer of our star letter wins an Ancestry DN A test worth £79 - so d rop us a line and share y

      7 min read

    • Article

      So, This Is Christmas

      Dec 13, 2023

      CHRISTMAS is reassuringly infused with comforting traditions. Cards start fluttering in, Father Christmases appear soon after, a tree is erected and the celebrated (or despised) pudding is finally consumed on December 25. Remarkably, a great deal of

      5 min read

    • Article

      Forgotten STORIES

      Feb 19, 2021

      Forgotten STORIES
      3 min read

    • Article

      Christmas THROUGH THE AGES

      Nov 2, 2023

      Christmas THROUGH THE AGES
      5 min read

    • Article

      BROKEN STARS & SILK DREAMS

      Sep 3, 2020

      BROKEN STARS & SILK DREAMS
      12 min read

    • Article

      Patchwork Of The Past

      Jun 2, 2021

      Patchwork Of The Past
      4 min read

    • Article

      Your Letters

      Feb 11, 2020

      I was fascinated seeing the full page reproduction dated 1815 of Dartmoor Prison (FT January 2020). It reminded me that sometimes the prominent figures and events of the past can touch our everyday lives. Let me explain. Daniel Asher Alexander was th

      5 min read

    • Article

      Antiques Journal

      Dec 23, 2020

      Antiques Journal
      4 min read

    • Article

      Hunting for History Books

      Sep 3, 2019

      Hunting for History Books
      11 min read

    • Article

      PATCHWORK Of The PAST

      Nov 1, 2017

      PATCHWORK Of The PAST
      4 min read

    • Article

      Christmas Traditions

      Dec 14, 2023

      In 1937, Aussie radio presenter Norman Banks was inspired after seeing a woman singing Christmas carols while holding a candle. He thought that gathering the community together to sing carols would be a great way to make sure no-one spent Christmas E

      2 min read

    • Article

      #storyofourstreet

      Aug 8, 2020

      #storyofourstreet
      4 min read

    • Article

      On Vacation with BC History

      Jun 4, 2019

      Books on British Columbia’s history are summer sidekicks for many of us. Packed into suitcases and taken on vacation, tucked into a bag and carted off to the beach, or read at home without switching on a lamp in the sunny evening hours. I usually sta

      10 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Feb 9, 2021

      Letters
      6 min read

    • Article

      Your Questions Answered

      Jun 11, 2021

      Q The birth certificate of my grandmother (Ellen Miller, born 3 January 1873, Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire) shows her parents as being William Miller and Sarah Ann Miller formerly WILKINS; however the birth certificate of her sister (Emily born 1

      20 min read

    • Article

      History of A Book

      Feb 26, 2024

      History of A Book
      1 min read

    • Article

      Coleridge Comes Home

      Oct 19, 2022

      On 21st October, a statue of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) will be unveiled, 250 years to the day since his birth in 1772. It will stand in the local church in his small, thriving home town: Ottery St Mary, tucked away in a pocket of countrysid

      3 min read

    • Article

      Minding the Manor

      Jul 11, 2019

      Minding the Manor
      5 min read

    • Article

      East of Eden, South of Frome

      Nov 2, 2018

      East of Eden, South of Frome
      5 min read

    • Article

      Dear Paul

      Sep 10, 2021

      Dear Paul
      10 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jun 30, 2020

      Letters
      6 min read

    • Article

      Looking Back 200 Years

      Mar 16, 2020

      Looking Back 200 Years
      4 min read

    • Article

      From Our Readers

      Jan 7, 2020

      Dear Antique Trader, What a wonderful article on Norman Rockwell (“Wartime Wonders: Celebrating the Legacy of the Four Freedoms”/Nov. 20, 2019). I didn’t ever remember seeing “The Four Freedoms” that he painted. Anyway, thank you for doing this. We n

      2 min read

    • Article

      If These Walls Could Talk

      Apr 27, 2021

      If These Walls Could Talk
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Holyoke

    4/5

    2 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Holyoke - Kate Navarra Thibodeau

      own.

      INTRODUCTION

      Good history is the history of everybody, stated Ellsworth H. Brown, director of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Historians, educators, curators, and interpreters face the challenge of making history for everybody when researching and writing community histories and presenting them to the public in museums and historic sites. Above all, history is emphasized for the public, often in the form of local and oral history.

      There are many ways to learn about the past. One can study the past directly through objects and writings, listen to what people who were there say about the past, and study the present to look for traces of the past.

      Wisteria, a flowering vine, covers much of the 26-room mansion, a place where this particular story begins. Wistariahurst features parquet floors, vaulted ceilings, elaborate woodwork, and two marble lions that have guarded the entrance since the late 19th century. But it was not always in Holyoke. The story of the building and the family who lived there begins in Williamsburg in 1868, where the building was constructed for silk manufacturer William Skinner. Local architect William Fenno Pratt designed the house in the traditional Victorian Second Empire style. The house stood in the section of town that was known as Skinnerville, until it was damaged in the Great Mill River Flood of May 16, 1874.

      After the flood, William Skinner moved his family and silk-manufacturing business to Holyoke. His home was dismantled and rebuilt at its present site, on Cabot and Beech Streets. In 1908, Belle Skinner and her brother William C. Skinner inherited the house from their mother, Sarah. Belle extensively remodeled the interior, exterior, and gardens. She incorporated several revival styles that dramatically changed the look of the house and grounds. The estate was kept in the family until 1959, when the Skinners gave Wistariahurst to the city of Holyoke for cultural and educational purposes.

      Cities that sprang up before and during the Industrial Revolution like Holyoke and Lowell are as different as they are similar. Each city has its own story of colorful characters, financial successes and troubles, entertaining lore, and sometimes tales of woe. The wealth generated from this industrial period in Holyoke allowed the Skinners to rise to the position of local prominence they hold today. Wistariahurst Museum seeks to preserve the home, landscape, and material culture of the Skinner family and Holyoke. The author’s hope is that this book continues with that mission and promotes an appreciation of history and culture through these words and images.

      Though no amount of research about an historic house is ever truly finished, it is important for the public to know what historians and museum educators know about the past, in this case Holyoke and Wistariahurst. Local history is an interdisciplinary field, and as such, this book utilizes several fascinating resources including documents, photographs, and oral histories. It is the hope of the author that readers of this book become as interested as she has in the process of understanding local history within the context of local, state, national, and international history.

      One

      THE SKINNER FAMILY

      William Skinner (1824–1902) is best known as a prominent silk manufacturer. Skinner used his skill as a silk dyer with tremendous success. His story is one of hard work, dedication, and ingenuity. He is pictured here around 1878, surrounded by his immediate family. Pictured are the following: (first row) Ruth Isabel Skinner, Nancy Skinner, William Skinner, Katharine Skinner, and Joseph Skinner; (second row) Eleanor Skinner, Sarah Allen Skinner, William C. Skinner, and Elizabeth Skinner.

      William Skinner was one of the many immigrants who moved to this country and took advantage of the rich resources America offered. He immigrated to America from London, England, at the age of 19. He had learned to dye silk as an apprentice to his father in London. Within about five years, by 1848, Skinner was operating his own silk mill.

      Thomas Skinner (1831–1922) (left) followed his two brothers, William and George B. Skinner (1828–1891) (not pictured), to America. He worked as a superintendent in the Skinner Silk Mills in Skinnerville, later moving to Holyoke with his brother William. He was the oldest inhabitant of South Hadley when he died at age 91 in 1922. He is buried

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1