The History of Bedford, Texas
Bedford's history is a cautionary tale with a happy ending. In the 1880s it was one of the biggest towns in Tarrant County — and then the railroads and highways all decided to go somewhere else, and Bedford nearly dried up and blew away. It sat mostly forgotten for half a century until the suburbs found it, and now the middle 'B' in 'HEB' is a comfortable mid-city between Fort Worth and Dallas.
Named for Tennessee, Built on a Gristmill (1840s–1880s)
The first settlers arrived in the late 1840s, and a real community formed in the 1870s after Weldon Bobo moved down from Tennessee and opened a general store and gristmill to serve the local farmers. Bobo and his neighbors — many of them also from Tennessee — named the place Bedford after the county back home. Bedford College, a combination high-school-and-junior-college, opened in 1882 and gave the town some real standing. Through the 1880s and 1890s Bedford boomed, reaching a population that surpassed every other Tarrant County town except Fort Worth itself.
The Bypass and the Long Quiet (1900–1950)
Then it all went away. Right after 1900, the transportation lines that would have kept Bedford growing chose other routes: the Dallas–Fort Worth Interurban and U.S. Highway 80 ran south of town through Arlington and Grand Prairie, and in 1903 the Rock Island Railroad bypassed Bedford too. Traffic and commerce drained away to the towns that got the tracks and the highway. Businesses moved, the college was already gone after an 1893 fire, and the post office closed in 1909. Bedford spent the next several decades as a shrunken shadow of its boom-era self.
The Suburb Revives It (1950s–Today)
Bedford's second act came with the metro's postwar sprawl. As Fort Worth and the mid-cities filled in and DFW Airport rose nearby, Bedford's location — once its curse — became its asset again, and it grew into a settled suburb of parks and neighborhoods. The town made a point of reclaiming its history: the Old Bedford School building was restored in 1996 into a museum and cultural center, a tangible link back to the boom days before the railroad went the other way.
Timeline
1870s
Weldon Bobo opens a store and gristmill; settlers name the community Bedford after their Tennessee home county.
1882
Bedford College opens, giving the booming town standing among Tarrant County communities.
1903
The Rock Island Railroad bypasses Bedford; nearby highways and rail had already diverted traffic, and the town declines.
1996
The Old Bedford School is restored as a museum and cultural center.
Notable People
Weldon Bobo
Tennessee transplant whose 1870s general store and gristmill anchored the community that became Bedford.
FAQ: History of Bedford
Early settlers, many from Tennessee, named the community Bedford after Bedford County, Tennessee, from which a number of them had come. The town grew around Weldon Bobo's 1870s store and gristmill.
After 1900, the Interurban rail line, U.S. Highway 80, and the Rock Island Railroad all bypassed Bedford, diverting traffic and commerce to nearby towns. Businesses left and the post office closed in 1909, leaving Bedford much diminished until the suburbs revived it decades later.
It's a historic school building that was restored in 1996 into a museum, visitors' center, and cultural venue, preserving the memory of Bedford's boom era in the late 1800s.
Yes. Bedford is the 'B' in 'HEB' — Hurst, Euless, Bedford — the cluster of suburbs between Fort Worth and Dallas near DFW Airport that share the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district.
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