Biohazard Cleanup Near Derby Estates Genoa, IL

Genoa is a small city in the northeast corner of DeKalb County, sitting on the banks of the Kishwaukee River.

Genoa was settled in 1836 by Thomas Madison, a Revolutionary War veteran from Ashtabula County, Ohio, who named the new settlement after Genoa, New York.

Genoa grew up on the historic Galena–Chicago stagecoach route, one of the great early transportation corridors of northern Illinois.

Genoa was incorporated as a village in 1876 and then as a city on September 9, 1911.

During the Civil War, 109 men from tiny Genoa enlisted in the Union Army — roughly a tenth of the town's population at the time.

Genoa had a population of 5,298 at the 2020 census, up from 5,193 in 2010, with about 2,200 households in recent Census Bureau estimates.

Genoa shares a great deal with its neighbor Kingston, including the Genoa-Kingston High School, the Genoa-Kingston Middle School and the Genoa-Kingston Fire Department.

Genoa's earliest industries were a village sawmill and a distillery, and the community remains surrounded by farmland and primarily agricultural in character.

The city celebrates its heritage each year with the Genoa Days festival, a community celebration whose roots stretch back decades.

Genoa grew slowly for most of its history — just 1,140 people in 1900 — before suburban-era growth pushed it past 4,000 in 2000 and over 5,000 by 2010.