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History · Cumberland City

Cumberland City was first counted by the census in 1890, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Henry Hollister House. Below: maps from 1931 on and the census since 1890.

1890first census
1on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Riffsyphon1024 (Steven Greenwood) · Public domain
Quick answers

How Cumberland City began

When was Cumberland City founded?

1890

Cumberland City first appears in the census in 1890. Another post office, Bowling Green (1827), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 244 in 18902020 census: 305136 years
Founding year: the first census.

What stands out about Cumberland City’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Cumberland City are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 416 in 1970; 305 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Cumberland City’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cumberland City’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Cumberland City, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 416

Peaked at 416 in 1970; 305 people lived here in 2020.

10 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cumberland City’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

Cumberland City, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cumberland City yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Cumberland City is a town in Stewart County, Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, Cumberland City had a population of 305. It is part of the Clarksville, TN — Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. Cumberland City is the site of a TVA Cumberland Fossil Plant along the Cumberland River that provides 2.6 gigawatts of electric power to much of the area, including the cities of Clarksville in Montgomery County and Dickson in Dickson County. The power plant's stacks (some of the tallest structures in the state) can be seen for at least 30 miles (48 km) away.

Its first post office opened in 1890. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 311 in 2010, 305 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Cumberland City, 1827 to 1970

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1827Post officeThe Bowling Green post office opens
  3. 1866Post officeThe Bowling Green post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1931On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 416
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Cumberland City on the map, 1931 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cumberland City. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Cumberland City on the 1931 USGS mapCumberland City on the 1965 USGS mapCumberland City on the 1983 USGS map1931Erin sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cumberland City.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Cumberland City

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1988
Henry Hollister House
Henry Hollister House
Buildings
All 1 listings
Henry Hollister HouseBuilding · listed 1988

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Another post office, Bowling Green, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Gone or out of use
Cumberland City Quarrymine

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Cumberland City’s history

What year was Cumberland City founded?

The Cumberland City post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Cumberland City?

One place: the Henry Hollister House (listed 1988).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.