The Village of Youngstown officially has someone making sure its history is documented and kept alive.

Resident Karen Noonan has been named the new historian for the village, who will document the current happenings and educate about its history.

Mayor Rob Reisman met with her last week and said Noonan is very knowledgable and passionate about the role. The village has not had its own historian for a few years, despite the state requiring that every municipality have one.

“I’m looking forward to being able to promote Youngstown history,” Noonan said, who is particularly interesting in using the area’s history to promote area tourism. “That’s one of the functions of historians, to promote community history.”

A retired administrator from the University at Buffalo with training in archeology, Noonan relocated to Youngstown when the village was just beginning to begin working on bicentennial celebrations for the War of 1812, her first involvement with the village. She was part of a walking tour for 4th-graders featuring costumed actors talking about different locations in the village.

Noonan helped to co-author a history book titled “From the Mouth of the Lower Niagara River,” where historians from Youngstown, Lewiston, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Queenston documented the history of the four communities for the War of 1812…