Bedford, Brooklyn

Bedford is a community in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, centered approximately at the corner of modern-day Fulton Street and Franklin Avenue.

Its name is better known today as part of the larger community of Bedford-Stuyvesant. See that entry for a description of the contemporary neighborhood. As the neighborhoods of Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights to its east became more and more similar and indistinguishable, the name Bedford-Stuyvesant came into use.

In pre-American Revolutionary War times, Bedford was the first major settlement to the east of the then-Village of Brooklyn on the Brooklyn & Jamaica Turnpike to Jamaica, Queens and the rest of Long Island. It formed a major crossroads with roads to Williamsburg to the north and Bedford Road to Flatbush to the south.

The advent of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in 1836 established Bedford early as a major railroad town as well, and in 1878 the building of a terminal and junction with the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway made Bedford an important gateway to Coney Island.

The Atlantic Branch of the LIRR continues to operate on its original route, but it is now in a tunnel under Atlantic Avenue west of Bedford Avenue and on an elevated structure east of there. Bedford Station, originally west of Franklin Avenue, is now located two blocks east on the structure and is known as Nostrand Avenue Station. The Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway (BF&CI) is now part of the BMT Franklin Avenue Line subway, and its station is now located at the corner of Fulton and Franklin.

Bedford (Brooklyn)