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.
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The school was founded as the Washington Seminary during the American Revolution in 1779 by Rev. John Gabriel Gephard, the pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Claverack. In 1830 the school was renamed Claverack Academy and in 1854 it became Claverack College and Hudson River Institute. At this point, the school became a quasi military academy for the male students. In 1890 student, 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] Claverack College closed its doors in 1902. 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.. 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]