Claverack College

Claverack College, also known as Washington Seminary and Hudson River Institute, was a coeducational boarding school in Claverack, New York, United States. It was in operation from 1779 until 1902.

Claverack College campus

History

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 and in 1854 it became Claverack College (a quasi-military academy for boys) and Hudson River Institute (a school for girls).

In 1890, one of its students named Stephen Crane, who later became a prominent author, published his first article in the February 1890 Claverack College Vidette about the explorer Henry M. Stanley's quest to find the English missionary David Livingstone in Africa.[1]

In the 1870s it was not uncommon for the Claverack men to marry the women of Hudson River Institute. One such marriage was Edward George Johnson, son of a Manhattan businessman, and Eugenia Ramacciotti, daughter of Francis Ramacciotti. Tuition in 1875 was $400 per year, which was equivalent of a year's pay for most people. Its 22-acre (8.9 ha) campus was on the east side of what is today NY 9H just south of the Reformed Dutch Church of Claverack.

Claverack College closed in 1902. After its closure the land was divided and sold and the buildings razed. The George Felpel House, currently on the western half of the property, uses some of the school buildings' stones.[2][3]

Notable alumni and faculty

Cadet Stephen Crane in uniform at the age of 17

• Richard M. Blatchford, U.S. Army general in World War I
• John Clum, Apache Indian Agent, publisher of The Tombstone Epitaph, mayor of Tombstone, Arizona, and friend of Virgil and Wyatt Earp.
• Stephen Crane, author (said his time at Claverack was among the happiest in his life)
• Wm. Knight, Wisconsin businessman and elected official
• Killian Miller, U.S. Representative
• Robert H. Morris (mayor), mayor of New York City
• Margaret Sanger, women's rights advocate
• Martin Van Buren, 8th U.S. President
• General John P. Van Ness, U.S. Representative
• William P. Van Ness, U.S. District Judge
• Cornelius P. Van Ness, Governor of Vermont
• General Jacob Rutsen Van Rensselaer, New York Secretary of State
• Alexander Russell Webb, U.S. Ambassador to Philippines, early American Muslim

References

1. Stallman, R. W. (1968). Stephen Crane: A Biography. New York: Braziller, p. 24
2. Claverack College and Hudson River Institute Claverack, Columbia County, New York By Captain Franklin Ellis (1878)
3. Gazetteer and business directory of Columbia County, N.Y. for 1871–2 (Printed at the Journal office, 1871) pp. 106–108

External links

• Gazetteer and business directory of Columbia County, N.Y. for 1871-2 (Printed at the Journal office, 1871), pg. 106-108