Cumberland University
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Cumberland University is a private university in Lebanon, Tennessee founded in 1842. The current campus was built in 1896.[1]
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[edit] Early history
The University was founded by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The original building, designed by William Strickland in 1844, housed schools of art, law and theology. The building was burned during the American Civil War.[1]
After the American Civil War, the University was briefly host to former Confederate general and Rogersville, Tennessee native A. P. Stewart, who taught during his post-war Union parole.[1]
Even in its early years, Cumberland University had a reputation for high-quality education. Its former law school, the Cumberland School of Law, was at one time was reputed to have had more of its alumni elected to Congress than any other in the South.
[edit] Cumberland School of Law
For many years the law school was located in historic Caruthers Hall, named for Robert Looney Caruthers, a founder of Cumberland University.[1] The school fell on hard times during the Great Depression, however, as was common with many smaller private colleges, and was slow to recover, being forced to sell the law school to what is now Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama in 1962 and to operate only as a junior college until the 1980s when university status could be restored.
[edit] Intercollegiate athletics
Ironically, Cumberland may well be best-known for being on the losing end of the most lopsided college football game in history, 222-0 to Georgia Tech in 1916. A more praiseworthy athletic effort was that of the 2004 baseball team, which won the World Series of the NAIA; the 2006 team was runner-up in this event. The football team is a member of the Mid-South Conference. Other intercollegiate sports are conducted under the auspices of the TranSouth Athletic Conference, which does not contest football.
[edit] Famous alums
The school's alumni include over 80 congressmen and 30 college presidents.
Cordell Hull - Secretary of State under President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1944.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Lebanon, Tennessee: A Tour of Our City (PDF). Lebanon/Wilson County Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved on February 5, 2007.
[edit] External links
| TranSouth Athletic Conference |
|---|
| Bethel • Blue Mountain • Crichton • Cumberland • Freed–Hardeman • Lambuth • Lyon • Martin Methodist • Mid–Continent • Trevecca • Union |
| Mid-South Conference |
|---|
| Belhaven • Bethel • Campbellsville • Cumberland U • Georgetown • Lambuth • Lindsey Wilson • Pikeville • Union • Univ. of Cumberlands • Virginia–Wise • WVU Tech |
American Baptist College • Aquinas College • Baptist Memorial College of Health Sciences • Belmont University • Bethel College • Bryan College • Carson-Newman College • Christian Brothers University • Crichton College • Cumberland University • Fisk University • Free Will Baptist Bible College • Freed-Hardeman University • Johnson Bible College • King College • Knoxville College • Lambuth University • Lane College • Lee University • LeMoyne-Owen College • Lincoln Memorial University • Lipscomb University • Martin Methodist College • Maryville College • Meharry Medical College • Memphis College of Art • Memphis Theological Seminary • Milligan College • O'More College of Design • Rhodes College • Sewanee, The University of the South • Southern Adventist University • Tennessee Temple University • Tennessee Wesleyan College • Trevecca Nazarene University • Tusculum College • Union University • Vanderbilt University • Watkins College of Art and Design
- This institution is unrelated, other than by similarity of name, to the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky.
