Bedford, city, residential southeastern suburb of Cleveland, Cuyahoga county, northern Ohio, U.S. Moravian missionaries, who settled there temporarily in 1786, called the site Pilgerruh (German: “Pilgrim’s Rest”). The site, surveyed in 1810, was permanently settled in 1813 by Elijah Nobles and Benjamin Fitch, who laid the foundation for the city’s chair industry. The settlement was named Bedford in 1821 by Daniel Benedict for his hometown in Connecticut. Inc. village, 1837; city, 1931. Pop. (2000) 14,184; (2010) 13,074.