Bedford Park, The Bronx : NYC Tourist Guide

Bedford Park, The Bronx, in NYC, New York, USA


Home » The Bronx » Neighborhoods » Bedford Park » Info

Bedford Park, The Bronx, New York City

Getting Started

Index

NYC Neighborhoods

Manhattan
Brooklyn
Queens
Bronx
Staten Island

NYC Icons

Chrysler Building
Flatiron Building
Empire State Building

Safe NYC

NYPD
FDNY

NYC Weather

NYC Climate
NYC Weather Forecast
Winter Season
Spring Season
Summer Season
Fall Season

NYC History & Politics

New York City History
Tammany Hall and Politics
New York City Politicians
New York City Personalities

Culture of Gotham City

Culture of the city
Cultural diversity
City in popular culture

Bedford Park
Bedford Park is a neighborhood in the borough of the Bronx in New York City bounded by Mosholu Parkway to the north, Bronx Park and Webster Avenue to the east, 194th Street and Kingsbridge Road to the south, and Goulden Avenue to the west. It borders the neighborhoods of Norwood, Fordham, and Kingsbridge.

History

Prior to being a residential neighborhood, the area now known as Bedford Park was mostly farmland outside the town of Kingsbridge, then an unincorporated suburb of New York City. The area began to be developed with the construction of the Jerome Park Racecourse, for thoroughbred horse racing, by Leonard Jerome and August Belmont, Sr. in 1866. Jerome Park Racecourse became the first home of the famous Belmont Stakes horserace, part of the Triple Crown of the sport, until it was moved to Morris Park in 1890. To attract the wealthy to the Racecourse, Leonard Jerome built what is today Jerome Avenue. In 1874 the town of Kingsbridge was officially incorporated into New York City.

In 1890 the Belmont Stakes were moved out of Jerome Park Racecourse and it was sold. Construction was started to convert it into the Jerome Park Reservoir, to store fresh water from the New Croton Aqueduct. At the same time, the neighborhood of Bedford Park was beginning to take shape, with forty "villas" (suburban houses) were built on a 23-acre stretch, in a planned community modeled on the London "garden" neighborhood named Bedford Park. These villas became the namesake for Villa Avenue. The area became a part of the newly created Borough of the Bronx in 1898, and with the completion of Jerome Park Reservoir in 1906 became a valuable asset for the much-expanded New York City. The Italian and Irish immigrants who worked on the Jerome Park Reservoir project soon anchored the community there.

Also in 1906, Bedford Park Boulevard received its current name. It had been 200th Street since annexation, and was likely named after Edward Thomas Bedford, a director of Standard Oil, president of the Bank of the State of New York, who was an associate of Leonard Jerome. Bedford Park Boulevard is still often referred to as 200th Street and the New York Botanical Garden is just one of the many places that have used (or continue to use) a 200th Street address since the 1906 renaming. To this day, the US Postal Address Service still recognizes (and will continue to deliver mail to) 'East 200th Street' addresses. NYC's master database has East 200th Street cross referenced with Bedford Park Boulevard[East]. This means that NYC's maps, the 911 system, and any other systems also recognize East 200th Street addresses as alternates to Bedford Park Boulevard[East] addresses. The bridge that runs over the Metro North Railroad tracks (which can be seen from the station) says '200TH ST'.

The completion of the development process, however, required the completion of two major transportation projects: the Grand Concourse, a multilane thoroughfare based on the Champs Elysees in Paris, in 1916; and the extension of subway to the area with the IRT Jerome Avenue Line in 1917. Along with the rest of the borough of the Bronx, Bedford Park saw a boom in housing construction along the Grand Concourse in the post-World War I era. Much of this was from middle-class white ethnic (primarily Jews, Italians, and Irish) emigrants moving from crowded Manhattan to settle down in the area.





This is NYC

New York City Neighborhoods

NYC has a rich history in diversity and the city as a whole is nothing more than many small neighborhoods. Explore it with us..

NYC Neighborhoods
Manhattan Island

NYC Waterfronts & Beaches

NYC's waterfront is roughly 600 miles long and the overall form of the Harbor has remained unchanged from the time of Giovanni da Verrazzano. Learn more about the harbor, its shores and its waterways.

NYC Waterfronts
New York City Beaches

History and Politics of NYC

Did you know that New York City was briefly the U.S. capital during 1789-90 and was state capital until 1797?

New York City History
Tammany Hall and Politics
New York City Politicians

Culture of Gotham City

The culture of NYC is shaped by centuries of immigration, the city's size and variety, and its status as the cultural capital of the United States.

Culture of the city
Cultural diversity
City in popular culture




Travel & Transportation

The dominant mode of transportation in New York City is mass transit - Subways and Buses. However, it is the Taxicabs that are real New York icons!

Safety & Security

How safe is New York City? Contrary to popular belief, the City consistantly ranks in the top ten safest large cities in the United States. The NYPD is the largest municipal police force in the world and has it's own Movie/TV Unit.

New York Climate

New York has a humid continental climate resulting from prevailing wind patterns that bring cool air from the interior of the North American continent. New York winters are typically cold with moderate snowfall.
New York Weather Forecast

Demographics

New York's two key demographic features are its density and diversity. The New York City metropolitan area is home to the largest Jewish community outside Israel. It is also home to nearly a quarter of the nation's South Asians, and the largest African American community of any city in the country.
Ethnic composition



New York Newspapers

Niagara Falls Express: Overnight Tour from New York Romance Over Manhattan Private Helicopter Flight

home | get listed | privacy policy | site map back to top

Quick Links to Neighborhoods » Manhattan | Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | Staten Island

Website: © 2004-08 NYCTouristGuide.com All Rights Reserved. Permission must be secured prior to duplication of any content, including images.
All Photos: © 2000-2007 Nishanth Gopinathan | StockPhotographs.org, unless otherwise credited. All International Rights Reserved.

Hosting: PixvieweRTM Web Hosting | Web Design: Live EyesTM (LiveEyes.org)