Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Genoa, NV

Genoa is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Douglas County, Nevada, founded in 1851 as the first settlement in what became the Nevada Territory, and it had a population of 1,343 at the 2020 census, up from 939 in 2010.

Genoa was first settled by Mormon pioneers as Mormon Station, a trading post on the Carson Route of the California Trail, and John Reese arrived in 1851 with horses, cattle, and a dozen wagons of supplies to establish a permanent trading post.

Orson Hyde changed the community's name to Genoa in 1856, after the historic Italian city, and the village served temporarily as the first capital of the new federal Nevada Territory when it was organized in 1861, until the capital moved later that year to Carson City.

When the first nine counties of Nevada Territory were created in 1861, Genoa became the county seat of Douglas County, a role later taken by Minden.

Nevada Territory's first newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise, was founded in Genoa in 1858 and moved to Virginia City two years later, and Genoa was also the site of the first cattle ranch in Nevada.

Genoa became a stop along the Pony Express in 1860.

The town is home to the Genoa Bar and Saloon, Nevada's oldest bar, which opened in 1853.

Much of Genoa, including the original fort, station, and hotel, was destroyed in a fire in 1910, but a replica of the fort was built in 1947.

Every year since 1919, Genoa has held the Candy Dance festival, usually during the final weekend of September, where candy, food, and crafts are sold to support its town government.

David Walley's Resort, a natural hot springs and spa a mile south of Genoa, was first built in 1862 as Walley's Hot Springs, and the bank robber Baby Face Nelson hid out there for a month in October 1934.