TRUMBULL COUNTY, Ohio — A brother duo is working to keep Trumbull County history alive. “It made it really fun, and brought the history alive," said Jeff Ford, a historian from Vienna, who, along with his brother, Scott, oversee their historical village at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds. 

What You Need To Know

  • Jeff and Scott Ford run the Trumbull County Fair's Historical Village 

  • This year they added a tribute display to a Trumbull County man who died a coal mine accident 

  • Both hope to continue researching and educating the public about county history 

The two took over operations there in 2017 with the goal of preserving the area’s rich history, one which is steeped in coal. This year’s display at the Trumbull County Fair is focused on the life and untimely death of Albert Bajorak, a miner who died over eight decades ago. 

Jeff, a member of the Vienna Historical Society, recruited Scott to build a memorial to share Bajorak’s story, and learned more about him.  

“Reached out and found family members of his and his grandsons are planning on coming to the fair. It was just surreal to actually be able to put this together thinking about these guys, how hard they really had to work,” said Jeff. 

“Built this here, and got some cast iron wheels down here, and some four by fours for axles and we just put it together on my porch in two hours,” said Scott. 

The Ford brothers’ hard work paid off and they hope to continue researching and adding displays to the historical section of the fair for years to come. 

“A lot of that is hard to find anymore. Local history, they don’t teach it at schools. It’s not just to put a niche in our cap about look what we did, it’s just showing them, we did this for the community, for people everywhere, not just in Trumbull County,” said Jeff. 

The historical Village can be found at Gate C on Trumbull County Fairgrounds. The fair runs July 11-16 in Cortland.