The story
Read it all →How Genoa came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Genoa.
Originally named Bad Axe for the river, the present-day name of Genoa came in 1868.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Genoa
Genoa’s post office opened in 1867, and 39% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1880.
1867first post office
0on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Quick answers
How Genoa began
When was Genoa founded?
1867
The Genoa post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 150 in 18802020 census: 232159 years
Founding year: the first Genoa post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Genoa’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Genoa’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Genoa’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Genoa, census by census
Peaked at 351 in 1930; 232 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Genoa’s Wikipedia page.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Genoa in 1884
Passages that mention Genoa, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Vernon county, Wisconsin ..1884 · page 319Read the page →
Read the text
About this time (1846) Ira Stevens located at Victory. Willard Spaulding built the first dwelling where the village of Genoa now stands, and Daniel Reed erected the first sawmill at Readstown, in the present town of Kickapoo, about the year 1849. Albert Field was one of the first settlers in the town of Hillsborough, in the year 1850 or 1851. A Mr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Vernon county, Wisconsin ..1884 · page 70Read the page →
Read the text
Bad Ax rises on section 31, town of Christiana; the south branch rises in the town of Franklin; the two unite on section 12, in the town of Genoa, forming the Bad Ax proper, which thence flows westerly into the Mississippi on section 16, in Genoa. Battle creek rises on section 2, town of Wheatland, runs southwesterly and flows into Winnebago slough. Sloughs are arms of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Genoa, 1867 to 1997
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1867Post officeThe Genoa post office opens
- 20th century
- 1926
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 351
- 1940
In the archivePhotograph with caption "Rock and brush protection mattress, L/D No. 8, Genoa [Wisconsin]… - 1997
In the archiveGenoa Station 3 power plant
By decade
Genoa, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1940s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1950s–1980snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album1990s1 item
Date unknown2 to date
Date?
Date?Today14 recent
2024LaCrosse BWR 1
2024Genoa Fire Station
2023W-35 Wisconsin
2023Genoa power plant
2023Genoa aerial photo
2023Former Genoa coal power plant
2016One of the many limestone bluffs along the Mississipp…
2016This tobacco warehouse, along the Mississippi River
2016No Trespassing - U.S. Government Property
2016Genoa Wisconsin housing
2009MississippiRiverLockAndDam8GenoaWisconsinWIS35
2009GenoaWisconsinSignWIS35
2009GenoaWisconsinDowntownSignWIS35
2008La Crosse Boiling Water ReactorOn the map
Genoa on the map, 1926 to 1983
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Genoa. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1926Stoddard sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Genoa.
Every building
Genoa, building by building, 1894
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.
1894Sheet 1 of 1Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
![Photograph with caption "Rock and brush protection mattress, L/D No. 8, Genoa [Wisconsin], General view of 50 ft. mat b…](https://images.townratings.com/story/18774/bdb0587c38be24e52f40-l.jpg)
Retake this viewPhotograph with caption "Rock and brush protection mattress, L/D No. 8, Genoa [Wisconsin], General view of 50 ft. mat b…, 1940
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Genoa’s page.
Retake this view · +15Questions about Genoa’s history
What year was Genoa founded?
The Genoa post office opened in 1867, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (15), the Library of Congress (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.