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Claverack College, also known as Washington Seminary and Hudson River Institute, was a coeducational boarding school in Claverack, New York, United States. Founded as a boys' academy, it operated from 1779 until 1902. It added a girls' school in the mid-19th century.
The school was founded as the Washington Seminary during the American Revolution in 1779 by Rev. John Gabriel Gebhard, the pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Claverack. In 1830 the school was renamed Claverack Academy. In 1854 it became Claverack College (a quasi-military academy for boys). The associated Hudson River Institute was founded in the mid-19th century as a school for girls. The classes and dormitories were located in handsome stone buildings.
In 1890, student Stephen Crane, who later became a prominent author, published his first article in the February 1890 Claverack College Vidette. It was about explorer Henry M. Stanley's quest in Africa to find the English missionary David Livingstone. [1]
In the 1870s students from Claverack and Hudson River Institute often made marriage matches with each other. One such marriage was that of Edward George Johnson, son of a Manhattan businessman, and Eugenia Ramacciotti, daughter of Francis Ramacciotti and his wife.
The school was for wealthy families: Tuition in 1875 was $400 per year, the equivalent of a year's pay for most people. Its 22-acre (8.9 ha) campus was just south of the Reformed Dutch Church of Claverack. Today NY 9H passes along its west side.
Claverack College closed in 1902. After its closure the land was divided and sold, and the buildings razed. The George Felpel House, located on the western half of the property, was built using some of the stones saved from the school's structures. [2] [3]
Albany County is a county in the state of New York, United States. Its northern border is formed by the Mohawk River, at its confluence with the Hudson River, which is to the east. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 314,848. The county seat and largest city is Albany, which is also the state capital of New York. As originally established by the English government in the colonial era, Albany County had an indefinite amount of land, but has had an area of 530 square miles (1,400 km2) since March 3, 1888. The county is named for the Duke of York and of Albany, who became James II of England. The county is part of the Capital District region of the state.
Columbia County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 census, the population was 61,570. The county seat is Hudson. The name comes from the Latin feminine form of the surname of Christopher Columbus, which was at the time of the formation of the county a popular proposal for the name of the United States. The county is part of the Capital District region of the state.
Claverack is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 6,058 at the 2020 census. The town name in English was derived from the Dutch word Klaverakker, meaning "Clover Fields" or "Clover Reach". In 1705, a Dutch tenant farmer made the first discovery of a mastodon tooth here.
Claverack-Red Mills, commonly known as Claverack, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 953 at the 2020 census.
Greenport is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 4,473 at the 2020 census, up from 4,165 in the 2010. The town is on the western border of the county and surrounds the city of Hudson on three sides. It is the third largest municipality in southern Columbia County, after Claverack and Hudson.
West Point is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States. Located on the Hudson River in New York, General George Washington stationed his headquarters in West Point in the summer and fall of 1779 during the American Revolutionary War, and later called it "the most important Post in America" in 1781 following the war's end. West Point also was the site of General Benedict Arnold's failed attempt at treason during the Revolutionary War.
Ghent is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States, with a ZIP code of 12075. The population was 5,303 at the 2020 census, down from the 2010 census population of 5,402. Ghent is centrally located in the county and is northeast of the city of Hudson.
Kinderhook is a town in the northern part of Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 8,330 at the 2020 census, making it the most populous municipality in Columbia County. The name of the town means "Children's Corner" in the language of the original Dutch settlers (Kinderhoek). The name "Kinderhook" has its root in the landing of Henry Hudson in the area around present-day Stuyvesant, where he was greeted by Native Americans with many children. With the Dutch kind meaning "child" and hoek meaning "corner", it could be that the name refers to a bend in the river where the children are. The eighth president of the United States, Martin Van Buren, was born in Kinderhook and retired to it.
New York State Route 23 (NY 23) is an east–west state highway in the eastern portion of New York in the United States. It extends for 156.15 miles (251.30 km) from an intersection with NY 26 in the Central New York town of Cincinnatus in Cortland County to the Massachusetts state line in the Berkshire Mountains, where it continues east as that state's Route 23. Along the way, it passes through many communities, including the cities of Norwich and Oneonta. Outside of the communities, the route serves largely rural areas of the state and traverses the Catskill Mountains in the state's Central New York Region. NY 23 crosses the Hudson River at Catskill via the Rip Van Winkle Bridge.
John Philip Clum was an Indian agent for the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in the Arizona Territory. He implemented a limited form of self-government on the reservation that was so successful that other reservations were closed and their residents moved to San Carlos. Clum later became the first mayor of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, after its incorporation in 1881. He also founded the still-operating The Tombstone Epitaph on May 1, 1880. He later served in various postal service positions across the United States.
New York State Route 23B (NY 23B) is an east–west state highway located in western Columbia County, New York, in the United States. The route is a former section of NY 23 that runs for 6.71 miles (10.80 km) from NY 9G southwest of Hudson to NY 9H in Claverack-Red Mills. It provides direct access to the city of Hudson from the Rip Van Winkle Bridge whereas NY 23 bypasses it to the south. NY 23B was assigned in the late 1950s after NY 23 was moved onto its current alignment south of Hudson.
Johannes Petrus "John Peter" Van Ness was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New York from 1801 to 1803 and Mayor of Washington, D.C. from 1830 to 1834.
Philmont is a village in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 1,377 at the 2020 census. The village is located in the northeastern part of the town of Claverack on New York State Route 217.
New York State Route 217 (NY 217) is a 6.78-mile (10.91 km) long state highway in Columbia County, New York, in the United States. It connects NY 23 in Claverack-Red Mills and the Taconic State Parkway in Hillsdale, providing a shortcut for drivers heading to and from the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and the Taconic State Parkway northwards of Philmont. The entirety of NY 217 is a rural road with only one lane in each direction separated by a double yellow strip.
Aaron Van Schaick Cochrane was a U.S. Representative from New York, and nephew of Isaac Whitbeck Van Schaick.
William Peter Van Ness was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New York and the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, also notable for serving as Aaron Burr's second in Burr's duel with Alexander Hamilton.
The First Columbia County Courthouse is located along NY 23B near the center of the hamlet of Claverack, New York, United States. It is a brick building in the Federal style constructed in 1786 and renovated in the mid-19th century.
The Reformed Dutch Church of Claverack is located at the north end of the hamlet of Claverack, New York, United States. The congregation was founded in 1716. The brick church was built in the mid-18th century and renovated and expanded twice in the 19th, reaching its present form in 1879. New York State Route 9 H passes by it.
The George Felpel House is located on NY 9H in Claverack-Red Mills, New York, United States. It is a stone Colonial Revival and Dutch Colonial Revival house built in the 1920s.
John Bullock Van Petten was an American educator, Union Army officer and politician from New York.
