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Built in 1774, linking Bradford to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the Bradford Canal took its water from Bradford Beck and its tributaries in West Yorkshire.

The Irish were concentrated in eight settled areas situated near the town centre around the middle decades of the 19th century. Bedford Street area of Broomfields was one of these which in 1861 contained 1,162 persons of Irish birth-19% of all Irish born persons in the Borough.

On 11 May 1985, at Valley Parade in West Yorkshire, the ground suffered one of the worst all-time sporting disasters after 56 people died. From the 19th-century technical college, Bradford College, whose buildings were inherited from, was founded.

In 1960s and 1970s, Bradford, like many cities, lost a number of buildings to developers and the Swan Arcade and the old Kirkgate Market mourned at the time. In 1903, Football Club in Bradford City was formed.

Bradford Bulls, formerly Bradford Northern, is one of the most successful rugby league clubs in the world giving Bradford in West Yorkshire a long sporting tradition. In 1966, the University of Bradford, which has over 10,000 students, received its Royal Charter, but traces its history to the 1860s when it was founded as the Bradford Schools of Weaving, Design and Building.

From the Old English brad and ford the broad ford, the name Bradford is derived, which referred to a crossing of the Bradford Beck at Church Bank below the location of Bradford Cathedral, around which a settlement grew in Saxon times in West Yorkshire. With attractions such as the National Science and Media Museum, Bradford City Park, the Alhambra theatre and Cartwright Hall, Bradford has emerged as a destination.