Chappaqua Mountain Institute

Chappaqua Mountain Institute was a private co-educational college preparatory school in Chappaqua, New York founded by the Quakers in 1870. The school closed in 1908 and re-opened in Valhalla, New York where it eventually became a girls-only boarding school. Highly regarded in its day, it was described in a contemporary travel guide as "a seat of Quaker learning". The Institute's alumni included Mario García Menocal, who became the third president of Cuba; copper magnate William Cornell Greene; and songwriter Irving Caesar.

When the school was established in 1870, all post-eighth grade education in the area was provided by private academies, a practice which continued until the early 20th century. Although founded and run by a Hicksite Quaker Meeting which had moved to Chappaqua from Purchase, New York in the 1830s, the school was non-sectarian. Initially, it provided a four-year co-educational program which prepared students for college. Later, an elementary school was added and manual and commercial subjects were also taught as well as music and art. While most of its students were boarders, a fair number of children from the town attended as day students.

The Institute's first building, a large three storey structure with a basement and mansard roof, stood on 40 acres (16 ha) of wooded grounds on the lower slope of Chappaqua Mountain facing Quaker Street. It was built mostly of wood, and in the early hours of February 21, 1885 a defective chimney caused a fire which completely destroyed the building. All 50 of the students and staff sleeping there that night got out of the building unharmed, including young Alfred Farragut, the nephew of Admiral David Farragut, who had a narrow escape. Finding themselves outside in the freezing snow, barefoot and dressed only in their pyjamas, Alfred and two of his friends had gone back to their room to retrieve their clothes, but became trapped there when the staircase caught fire. Eventually the boys used a clothes line to lower themselves from a third storey window.

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