Bedford Park

Understanding Bedford Park

The area was farmland in the nineteenth century before suburban development and successive immigrant communities changed its streets. The city’s neighborhood assessment describes Irish and Italian settlement and later Latin American, Bangladeshi and Albanian communities.

Mosholu Parkway belongs to the Bronx’s nineteenth-century system of parks and connecting landscaped roads. Its green strips help explain why major roadways and open space sit together here.

Places to explore

• Mosholu Parkway

  Along the landscaped parkway near Webster Avenue

  Look for the World War I monument at Marion Avenue or the open green strips beside the roadway. Use street crossings; this is a landscaped traffic corridor, not an uninterrupted pedestrian park.

• Valentine–Varian House

  3266 Bainbridge Avenue, near the Norwood edge

  The stone farmhouse is now the Museum of Bronx History. It explains the farming and road traffic that preceded the apartment streets. Arrange a tour with the historical society; the source specifies appointment-only tours.

  Read the NYFE place guide

• Bainbridge and Webster avenues

  Local commercial corridor

  The assessment traces the corridor between Williamsbridge Oval and the Fordham Road direction. Choose shops on the public streets; the report does not establish current hours for individual businesses.