Cumberland

City and administrative headquarters of Allegany County, northwest Maryland, USA, in the Allegheny Mountains, on the Potomac River and Wills Creek, 85 km/53 mi south of Johnstown, Pennsylvania; population (2000) 21,500. Cumberland is the industrial centre of a forest, farm, and coal region. Industries manufacture sheet metal, missile components, rubber, textiles, paper products, glass, bricks, beer, and railroad equipment. It is home to Allegany Community College (1961).

Cumberland was originally an American Indian settlement, and then became a trading post and fort; it was incorporated as a city in 1856. The city developed in the 19th century as a terminus for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and as a junction on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.