Cumberland Presbyterian College was founded in March 1826 by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Its first president was Rev. F. R. Cossitt. The school opened with six students on some 500 acres of land bought for $6,000. It was a manual-labor school, and students were required to work 2 hours a day on the farm. Classes in theology aided those interested in the ministry. In 1858 the college merged with Cumberland Univ. in Lebanon, Tenn.