This station was constructed by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company as part of the Dual Contracts and opened in 1918.

As part of Contract 3, the IRT agreed to build an elevated line along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx.

[4][5][6] In April 1915, the New York Public Service Commission voted to change the planned name of the station from 200th Street to Bedford Park Boulevard.

[10] Bedford Park Boulevard–200th Street station opened on April 15, 1918 as part of the final extension of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line from Kingsbridge Road to Woodlawn.

[12][13] The construction of the line encouraged development along Jerome Avenue, and led to the growth of the surrounding communities.

The platforms had yellow tactile edge warning strips installed, and the IRT directional tablets inside fare control have been preserved.

[citation needed] Until renovations in 2006, it was the only station in the entire subway system and along the IRT Jerome Avenue Line to have a barbed wire fence on a platform–the Manhattan bound platform.