About Cumberland University

Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee. It was founded in 1842. The campus's current historic buildings were constructed between 1892 and 1896.

The university was founded by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1842 and received its Tennessee state charter in 1843. In 1847 Cumberland Presbyterian church leaders added a law school, the first in Tennessee and the first west of the Appalachian Mountains, and in 1854 a school of theology was begun. The original building, designed by Philadelphia architect William Strickland, housed schools of art, law and theology.