Region: Prairies and Lakes
This city in northeast Tarrant County was settled in the late 1840s. Milton
Moore of North Carolina established the community between Fort Worth and
Grapevine. Weldon Bobo came to the area and built a general store and gristmill
to serve area farmers in the 1870s. Bobo and a group of farmers agreed to name
the community Bedford, after the county in Tennessee from which many of them had
come.
In the early 1900s, the Dallas/Fort Worth Interurban rail line was built
south of the Trinity River to other nearby communities. In 1903, the Rock Island
Railroad bypassed the city, and growth halted until the construction of nearby
military bases and defense plants during World War II. Like most metroplex
cities, growth continues to parallel that of other cities in the
area.