William Skinner

Born: January 26, 1855

Died: March 8, 1922

Married: Florence Clarissa Roberts, Renovia M. Walbridge

Children: Marjorie Skinner Trumbull, Roberts Keney Skinner Sr, William Converse Skinner

William C. Skinner owned the McColloms Hotel for several years after 1913.

William C. Skinner was born in Malone, New York. Skinner attended Albany Law School in Albany, New York. He clerked for the New York Legislature and railroad in Albany before moving to Hartford, Connecticut, to attend Trinity College in 1872. In 1892 he was appointed to the staff of Morgan Bulkeley with the rank of Colonel. In 1906 he was selected to serve as vice president of Colt's Manufacturing Company. He was elected president three years later and served in this capacity until 1911. After a 5-year hiatus he resumed this position in 1916 and served as president of Colt a second time until 1921 when he resigned to become chairman of the company's board of directors.

In anticipation of the military draw down following World War I, Skinner implemented a diversification program at Colt's Manufacturing similar to that done at the close of the American Civil War. Skinner acquired contracts for business machines, calculators, dishwashers, motorcycles, and automobiles; all marketed under a name other than Colt. Other measures included cutting the work week, reducing salaries, and keeping more employees on the payroll than they needed, all of which kept the company in business after Skinner's retirement.

Chateaugay Record and Franklin County Democrat, March 17, 1922

Colonel William C. Skinner, former resident of Malone and the owner of a very fine Adirondack camp at Lake Meacham, died at Hartford, Conn., on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 8th. Colonel Skinner was a man of great wealth and has given much to Malone. He built the nurses' home at the Alice Hyde Memorial hospital in memory of his father. He erected the Landsome rectory of St. Mark's Episcopal church in memory of his mother. At the time of his death he was the chairman of the board of directors of the Colts Patent Fire Arms Company, in which he was heavily interested. He also retained some important business connections In Malone. Colonel Skinner never forgot his old friends In Elm City and was much esteemed there. He was particularly popular with the Adirondack guides and woodsmen of the Duane section, he being an ardent lover of hunting and fishing.