On February 2, 1987, a renovated gas station at the corner of Cumberland Avenue and Eleventh Street (now the site of the Eleventh Street Parking Garage), opened as the Cumberland Child Care Center—a child care center for children of employees and operated by the UT Knoxville Personnel Office. Fees ranged from $35 to $45 a week, depending on the employee’s income.
The center with two classrooms—one for toddlers (18 months to three-years-old) and one for preschoolers (three to five years old)—was open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The center followed UT’s calendar and was subsidized by UT.
In 1989 the administration of the center was transferred to the Department of Child and Family Studies as a first step in the expansion of university childcare programs. In 1991 the Cumberland Child Care Center was restructured as one of the Child Development Laboratories of the Department of Child and Family Studies.
The facility relocated in January 2000 to the ground level of Laurel Avenue Apartments to make room for the Eleventh Street Parking Garage and moved to its current location on Lake Avenue when Laurel Apartments was closed for renovation.