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Bedford, New York
—  Town  —
Westchester County New York incorporated and unincorporated areas Bedford (town) highlighted
Location of Bedford in New York
Coordinates: 41°13′33″N 73°39′54″W / 41.22583, -73.665
Country United States
State New York
County Westchester
Town Bedford
Established 1680
Government
 • Type Manager-Council
 • Town Supervisor Lee V.A. Roberts (R)
 • Town Board
Area
 • Total 39.4 sq mi (102.1 km2)
 • Land 37.2 sq mi (96.3 km2)
 • Water 2.2 sq mi (5.8 km2)
Elevation[1] 381 ft (116 m)
Population (2010)[2]
 • Total 17,335
 • Density 466/sq mi (180.0/km2)
Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code 10506
Area code(s) 914
FIPS code 36119-05320
GNIS feature ID 978717
Website www.bedfordny.info
[3]

Bedford is a town in Westchester County, New York, USA. The population was 17,335 at the 2010 census.[4]

The town of Bedford is located in the northeastern part of Westchester County, and contains the three hamlets of Bedford Hills, Bedford Village, and Katonah. Westchester County ranks number two to New York County (coterminous with Manhattan) for wealthiest counties in New York State and the seventh wealthiest county nationally. [Citation needed]

History[]

The town of Bedford was founded on December 23, 1680, when 22 Puritans from Stamford, Connecticut, purchased a tract of land three miles square known as the "Hopp Ground" from Chief Katonah and several other Indians for coats, blankets, wampum and cloth.[5]

Bedford was made a part of Connecticut in 1697 when a patent fixed the boundaries as a six-mile square. Only when King William III of England issued a royal decree in 1700 settling a boundary dispute did Bedford become part of New York.

The town served as the county seat of Westchester County during the American Revolutionary War after the Battle of White Plains, until Bedford was burned by the British in July 1779.[6][7] After the Revolution, Bedford was made one of two seats of county government, alternating with White Plains, until 1870. Westchester County's oldest government building is the Court House in Bedford village, which was built in 1787 and renovated in the 1960s.

The Bedford Village Historic District, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Palmer-Lewis Estate, and The Woodpile are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[8]

Geography[]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 39.4 square miles (102.1 km2), of which 37.2 square miles (96.3 km2) is land and 2.2 square miles (5.8 km2), or 5.70%, is water.[4] The town is bordered to the west by Mount Kisco, to the south by Armonk in the town of North Castle, to the north by Lewisboro, and to the east by Pound Ridge.

Landmarks[]

Bedford has a few minor landmarks, most of them centered around the Bedford Green, a small patch of green space at the center of the historical district (along Route 22). There is a small graveyard dating back to the founding of the town; the old one-room stone schoolhouse; and a few colonial-era houses, still lived in, which are kept painted white with black or green shutters.

Bedford Oak - Bedford, NY - July 2012

Bedford Oak, July 2012

The Bedford Free Library is located in Bedford, on the Village Green, and is a member of the Westchester Library System. Bedford Hills and Katonah also have libraries which are members of the same system.

Also along Route 22, at Hook Road, there is a large 300+ year old oak tree known as the Bedford Oak.[9]

Demographics[]

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 18,133 people, 5,731 households, and 4,395 families residing in the town. The population density was 486.9 people per square mile (188.0/km²). There were 6,020 housing units at an average density of 161.6 per square mile (62.4/km²). The racial/ethnic makeup of the town was 87.50% White, 7.12% Black, 1.98% Asian, and 1.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.57% of the population. 0.09% ethnic Native American. 0.08% ethnic Pacific Islander and 1.88% from other ethnicities.

There were 5,731 households out of which 41.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.5% were married couples living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.3% were non-families. 18.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.21.

In the town the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 32.2% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 87.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.8 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $100,053, and the median income for a family was $118,820. Males had a median income of $88,561 versus $47,468 for females. The per capita income for the town was $53,046. About 2.4% of families and 4.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.9% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those of age 65 or over.

Local media[]

The Record-Review, a weekly newspaper, reports on local issues in Bedford and Pound Ridge. The newspaper began publishing in 1995.

All About Bedford: Connecting Our Community With a Click- the most local of news sites on the Town of Bedford, its people and its schools

Communities and locations in Bedford[]

  • Bedford Corners – A small wooded hamlet located within the town and neighboring the village of Mount Kisco. The historic home Stonecrest was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.[8]
  • Bedford Hills – A hamlet in the western part of the town, just south of Katonah. The historic Richard H. Mandel House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.[8]
  • Bedford – A hamlet in the southeast part of the town, commonly known as Bedford Village. The Bedford Village Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.[8]
  • Katonah – A hamlet at the north town line.

Notable people[]

  • Joseph Abboud, fashion designer
  • Bea Arthur, actress, comedian and singer[10]
  • Billy Baldwin, actor[11]
  • Gertrude Berg, actress and writer
  • Chevy Chase, comedian, writer, and television and film actor; owns a home in Bedford[12]
  • Michael Douglas, actor
  • Richard Gere, actor
  • J. B. Gunn, physicist, lived on Guard Hill Rd. in Bedford, but with a Mt. Kisco mailing address[13]
  • Lasse Hallström, director
  • Florence Jaffray Harriman, American socialite, suffragist, and diplomat. The Harriman family estate in Bedford Corners has traditionally had a Mt. Kisco mailing address
  • Felicity Huffman, actress
  • Carl Icahn, American business magnate
  • Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, activist
  • Ralph Lauren, fashion designer
  • Blake Lively, actress
  • Kate Mara, actress[14]
  • Rooney Mara, actress[15]
  • Lena Olin, actress
  • Jennifer O'Neill, actress and author
  • Chazz Palminteri, actor and writer[11]
  • Nelson Peltz, billionaire financier
  • Claudio Reyna, professional soccer player
  • Ryan Reynolds, actor
  • Paul Shaffer, musician
  • Ted Sorel, actor who resided in the hamlet of Katonah[16]
  • Martha Stewart, TV show host
  • Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox Twenty
  • Donald Trump, business magnate; deceased Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi stayed at Trump's estate in Bedford Corners during his 2009 visit to New York
  • Catherine Zeta-Jones, actress

Notes[]

  1. ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  2. ^ a b "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  3. ^ Bedford NY. ZIP Code Lookup.
  4. ^ a b "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Bedford town, Westchester County, New York". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/0600000US3611905320. Retrieved January 29, 2013. 
  5. ^ Westchester Archives - Bedford Deed to the Hopp Ground from Kahtonah, et al. to Richard Ambler, et al.
  6. ^ Official Page of the Town of Bedford, NY
  7. ^ Bedford Historical Society, The Burning of Bedford (Published in the Record Review Friday, July 9, 2004)
  8. ^ a b c d "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html.  Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "nris" defined multiple times with different content
  9. ^ The New York Times, "If You're Thinking of Living in/Bedford Village; 'New England' 44 Miles From Broadway", http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DD163CF934A35752C1A965958260, November 7, 1993
  10. ^ ...Beatrice Arthur has sublet the family's cooperative apartment on Central Park West and the country home in Bedford, New York ... Moritz, Charles (editor) (1973) "Arthur, Beatrice" Current Biography Yearbook, 1973 H. W. Wilson, New York, pp. 17-20, page 20, ISBN 0-8242-0543-X
  11. ^ a b [1] Costaregni, Susie, "The Dish" column, "Christmas concert to help children in Rwanda", The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, December 3, 2006, accessed December 23, 2006
  12. ^ Chamoff, Lisa, "Westport to host Clinton fundraiser", news article in The Advocate of Stamford, Connecticut, Norwalk edition, July 25, 2007, page A13 ("[...] Chevy Chase, a resident of Bedford, N.Y. [...]")
  13. ^ "Physics Today Obituaries: John Battiscombe Gunn". American Institute of Physics. 13 February 2009. http://www.physicstoday.org/obits/notice_359.shtml. Retrieved 2 December 2010. 
  14. ^ Kate Mara at the Internet Movie Database
  15. ^ Serico, Chris (August 16, 2010). "Meet Rooney Mara, she's not just following in her sister's footsteps". The Journal News. Retrieved on September 5, 2010.
  16. ^ "Theodore Eliopoulos obituary". San Francisco Chronicle. 2010-12-05. http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=146912533. Retrieved 2010-12-12. 

External links[]

Coordinates: 41°13′33″N 73°39′54″W / 41.22583, -73.665


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Bedford (town), New York. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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