by Laurel | April 10th, 2012
10 April 1928
Château de Hattonchâtel in winter
Sorrow at Hatton-Chattel Which She Had Entirely Rebuilt Into model Community
Hattonchatel, France, April 9 — (AP) This little village, completely destroyed during the World War and then entirely rebuilt into a model community by Miss Belle Skinner of Holyoke, Mass., went into mourning today on receipt of word that Miss Skinner had died in Paris.
The work of rehabilitation, undertaken through the generosity of the American woman, had just been finished and the architect employed upon it had sent word to here to attend the official ceremony of the resurrection of the village which several French ministers planned to attend.
The fact that Miss Skinner never saw complete the beautiful model community which she had built from the ruins of the war was particularly regretted by the grateful villagers.
Adapted from The Springfield Republican, image Wiki commons, public domain.
