Construction was started to convert it into the Jerome Park Reservoir, to store fresh water from the New Croton Aqueduct.

[4] Development continued with the completion of the Grand Concourse, a multilane thoroughfare, in 1914; and the extension of subway to the area with the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (present-day 4 train) in 1917.

[4] During the 1970s and 1980s, when poverty, crime, arson, and drug use were prevalent across the Bronx, Bedford Park was able to somewhat withstand this compared to other neighborhoods in the more southern parts of the borough.

This was largely due to community activists and organizers taking an aggressive stance on drugs and demanding increased law enforcement in the area.

[11] In 2018, an estimated 26% of Bedford Park and Norwood residents lived in poverty, compared to 25% in all of the Bronx and 20% in all of New York City.

Based on this calculation, as of 2018[update], Bedford Park and Norwood are considered low-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.

[3] Reflecting a population greatly composed of foreign-born immigrants, there are distinct ethnic enclaves in Bedford Park.

Among the national symbols one may see strolling the neighborhood include the double-headed eagle (the emblem of Albania), the icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe (sacred to Catholic Mexicans), the shamrock of Ireland, the Arabic calligraphy of the shahadah (the Muslim profession of faith), or the coquí of Puerto Rico.

Designed by noted architect Paul Rudolph, they were completed in 1972 as a part of New York City's Mitchell Lama housing development initiative.

[8]: 14 The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Bedford Park and Norwood is 0.0078 milligrams per cubic metre (7.8×10−9 oz/cu ft), more than the city average.

[23] Bedford Park and Norwood generally have a lower rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city as of 2018[update].

[8]: 6  The percentage of Bedford Park and Norwood students excelling in math rose from 21% in 2000 to 48% in 2011, and reading achievement increased from 28% to 33% during the same time period.

[24] Bedford Park and Norwood's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is more than the rest of New York City.

[9]: 24 (PDF p. 55) [8]: 6  Additionally, 70% of high school students in Bedford Park and Norwood graduate on time, lower than the citywide average of 75%.

[8]: 6 In the 1930s, unclaimed land near the Jerome Park Reservoir offered opportunities for New Deal-related construction to alleviate unemployment from the Great Depression.

After the end of World War II, in 1946 Hunter College's Bronx Campus served briefly as host of the United Nations.

[28] The Works Progress Administration built the original four buildings of the campus in grey stone in the Collegiate Gothic style, with finials, turrets, and other decorative features.

Additional buildings, including the Lehman Library and Center for the Performing Arts, were added in the style of modern architecture.

The scenic campus, which spans into Kingsbridge, has been used as a shooting location for episodes of the television series Law & Order and its spin-offs.

The New York Public Library (NYPL) operates the Mosholu branch at 285 East 205th Street, next to Whalen Park.

Its American Queen Anne-style design hints at Bedford Park's origin as a small rural community.

The cornerstone of the church (dated 1899) was in fact quarried from what became Jerome Park Reservoir, and brought there by a horse-drawn carriage.