Bedford Elementary History

On February 9, 1954, the Board of Education of Baltimore County purchased 47 acres of land for $138,788 from Hayward Realty, Inc. The site was to house a junior high school and an elementary school. The junior high school took its name from historic old Sudbrook Park. The elementary school was named after one of the streets, Bedford Road.

The elementary school, designed by Meyer and Ayers Architects and constructed by Stamford Construction Co. Inc., was due to open its doors for the September, 1962 school year. Although the staff was ready, the school building and materials were not. The first Bedford students enjoyed an extra two week summer vacation while their soon-to-be-teachers reported to Campfield Elementary spending their days with planning and paper work in preparation for their first year together as a faculty. The first principal was Mrs. Leona Werner. She remained here until 1968.

When Bedford finally opened, there were 600 students, with 36 to 40 students in a classroom. Opening day was quite chaotic. Many supplies were lacking. The first grade had chairs but no desks! There were no specials. Bedford did not have Art, Physical Education or Music classes. There was no kindergarten. Bedford got its first kindergarten class in 1966. In 1965, there was even an all boys' class. With the "baby boom" still growing, Bedford became so overcrowded that it annexed 4 first grades to Powhatan School 1967-1969.

The first year created many of the things we have come to associate with Bedford. The children voted on the mascot for the school and the "Bedford Bees" won. They also voted on the school colors. Blue and gold were chosen. There was even a school song.

Life at school was different in some ways. Back then, all of the food in the cafeteria was cooked right the kitchen in the school. There were no snacks to buy. There were no buses; all of the children were walkers.

There have been many changes and many students and teachers have come and gone but Bedford remains a vibrant place to learn.

This information has been extracted from Bedford's Twentieth Anniversary Book, 1962-1982 produced by the Project Bedford students: Jeremy Barron, Patricia Beachley, Deborah Eisenhour, Rachel Floam, Carla Forman, Douglas Gosnell, Wendy Klaff, Joe Lange and Rachel Reinstein, all from the class of '82.