Geneva, AL news and local guide

In the spring of 1865 the "Lincoln Flood" destroyed most of the old town, and residents rebuilt on higher ground. In December 1868 Geneva County was created from part of Coffee County, with Geneva as its seat; a log cabin served as the first courthouse. Sources differ on when the town was chartered: a city marker says 1871, while the Encyclopedia of Alabama and Wikipedia give 1875. Late in December 1862, Union troops of the 91st New York Volunteers had captured the stern-wheel steamer Bloomer here and taken it to Pensacola. After a fire in 1888, the town rebuilt to the north, and the railroads that reached the county in the early 1900s ended the river era. The "Hoover Flood" of March 1929 struck again, and townspeople built a levee with help from the federal government. Emma Knox Kenan founded the town's library in 1904; after the 1929 flood and a 1930 fire destroyed its home, books were kept on her back porch until a new building opened on January 15, 1932. On March 10, 2009, a gunman killed ten people in Geneva, Samson and Kinston in the deadliest mass shooting in Alabama's history. Sources The Historical Marker Database: Geneva, Alabama (Alabama Tourism Department and the Town of Geneva) The Historical Marker Database: Emma Knox Kenan Library (Alabama Historical Commission) Encyclopedia of Alabama: Geneva Wikipedia: Geneva, Alabama