The settlement originated as a trading post called Mormon Station, which served as a respite for travelers on the Carson Route of the California Trail.

By 1851, John Reese arrived in the area with horses, cattle and a dozen wagons loaded with supplies to establish a permanent trading post.

[citation needed] A mile south of Genoa is David Walley's Resort, a famous natural hot springs and spa.

On October 1, 1934,the infamous wanted criminal and bank robber Baby Face Nelson (1908-1934, born Lester Joseph Gillis, later a.k.a.

George ("Baby Face") Nelson), and members of his criminal gang arrived at Walley's Hot Springs, hiding out for a month before returning east to Chicago, where Nelson was later shot by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), form the Chicago field office and Washington, D.C., headquarters, under famous long-serving director J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972, served 1924-1935 / 1935-1972), in the United States Department of Justice,[14] Scenes from the 1973 movie Charley Varrick were filmed in Genoa, and the village was the set for the 1990 movie Misery, starring Kathy Bates, when the village doubled in size with buildings added and then removed after the filming.

[15][16] Genoa is located on the western edge of the Carson Valley, 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Minden, the Douglas County seat.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the census-designated place of Genoa has a total area of 9.2 square miles (23.8 km2), all land.