The Dutchess County Courthouse is located at 10 Market Street in downtown Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Built in 1903, it is the third county courthouse to stand on that site. The first was authorized by the provincial assembly in 1717 and built in 1720, and would host New York's debate on ratifying the U.S. Constitution during the brief period when Poughkeepsie served as the state capital in 1788. It was destroyed in an 1806 fire. Three years later the state legislature appropriated funds for a new one, which stood for almost a century. An early tenant beside the courts was brewer Matthew Vassar, later founder of Vassar College, who ran an alehouse and oyster bar in the basement.