History

Geneva County was created by an act of the Alabama State Legislature on December 26, 1868, and was once part of present-day Dale County. The county was named after Geneva, Switzerland, the hometown of the county's first postmaster Walter H. Youge.

In 1861, Geneva was wiped out by a flood, and the town was relocated to higher ground. The pattern of flooding continued, and Geneva has flooded four times since the turn of the twentieth century.

In 1901, the Alabama & Florida Railroad built a line through Geneva, connecting Georgiana, Alabama, to Graceville, Florida. The line operated until 1987, when the 23-mile Geneva spur was abandoned. In 1904, the Central of Georgia Railroad ran a line to Florala through Geneva County.

During the antebellum era, goods were floated down the Pea River to its junction with the Choctawhatchee River at Geneva, where it was eventually floated to the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1923 the Geneva Cotton Mill was established. It later was purchased by Clinton Mills of South Carolina; and by the late 1980s, the mill employed almost 600 people. The plant was closed in the late 1990s.

Farming remains an important component of the Geneva County economy, and present-day agricultural products include corn, hay, peanuts, soybeans, cotton, truck crops, and forestry products.