A history of Bedford,
since 1837
Postcards, papers and photographs of Bedford from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The area that is now Bedford and northeastern Ohio was originally inhabited by Native Americans as early as 11,000 years ago. By 1662 the area was declared a part of the Connecticut Colony through royal charter. Much of the colony's land, which extended to the Pacific Ocean, was ceded to the early U.S. government, but a few million acres west of the border of Pennsylvania became what was known as the Western Reserve.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Bedford’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewBedford School, 1909: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Bedford, decade by decade
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as A.B. & C. bridge disaster (1896) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (5) and the Library of Congress (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.