The concept worked only for a short time but left its mark on the structure of Bedford, which became a market town.

The common village green is surrounded by the court house from 1787, the Historical Hall from 1806, a library, which was previously the Bedford Academy, from 1807, a school house built from cut stone in 1829, a post office and a general store from around 1838, and the Presbyterian church in Gothic Revival style from 1872.

[3] The hamlet was under a Connecticut license until 1700, when it was assigned to New York State on an order by King William.

[3] The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in northern Westchester County in 1973.

It is the oldest government building of Westchester County and one of three court houses in New York State from before 1800.

In a tradition dating back to its first use, it is also a venue for lectures and meetings, and mock trials have also been performed in the courtroom.

It had one room, which served for lessons in "grammar, spelling, arithmetic, history, geography, the Bible, and depending on the scholarship of the teacher, Latin and philosophy".

A school library had books about history, travel, natural sciences, agriculture, biographies, and literature, listed in an 1843 directory.

When the school was too small for a growing population in 1912, the building was turned into a museum founded by the Bedford Agassiz Society in 1913.