The town of Goa was originally situated at Barangay Salog which was then known as “Visita de Salog”, comprising the barrios of Lalud (now known as barangay Salog), Himagaan, Matacla, and Payatan. Lalud is found along the banks of Cagaycay River and is about five kilometers away from the present site of the town center.
The “visita” was established in 1701 by Franciscan Missionary Fr. Matias de Valdesoto and was attached to the parish of Manguiring, Calabanga. By 1729, it was declared independent and was later converted into a pueblo. The settlement center was later transferred to the present site because a disastrous flood swept the houses down the river and the inhabitants needed more land for planting. The original settlers found in the new site a wide stretch of plain land with brooks and rivers. There were scattered areas of swampland where 'gajo, a native slender cane plant the locals used for arrow shafts, grow in wild profusion.
In 1777, Franciscan Friar Fr. Juan Abalay, from the Portuguese colony of Goa, came to administer the parish. It was on his arrival that the village was converted into a town with the official name of Pueblo de Goa. Fr. Abalay was instrumental in naming the town Goa, motivated presumably for two reasons: to perpetuate the memory of his birthplace and to give official confirmation to the name which the place has been known for some time corrupted allegedly by the Spaniards from “gajo”.
On arrival, Fr. Abalay found Gregorio de los Reyes as Pueblo Headman and Santiago Evangelista, Juan de los Santos, Pedro Paraiso, Francisco Jacinto, Andres de la Trinidad and Lucas Delfin as council members. Fr. Abalay named Pedro de los Reyes son of the reigning Headman, “Cabeza de Barangay” in the cabeseria De Barangay del Pueblo De Goa. The German traveler, Feodor Jagor, found Goa a thriving municipality in 1863 when he scouted for guides who could accompany him climb Mount Isarog. In about the same year, the parish started the gigantic project of building a stone church and convent. The church, of Roman Gothic design and the convent, half stone and half wood, were completed in 1887. It took almost two decades of hard labor and involved every man, woman and child who was old enough to carry a piece of stone (known as cellar) to finish the project. A school building of stone was constructed soon across the street on the right side of the convent, to house the classes of the “primera enseñanza”. Another structure of the segunda enseñanza was added about the time the Revolution broke out in 1896.
For the duration of the revolution and until the arrival of the Americans in 1900, Goa was governed by a local detachment of the revolutionary forces. The inhabitants called this period “Gobierno Filipino”. They elected the first “presidente” upon the implementation of the Maura Law. Jose Perfecto, headed the civil authorities with the “Cabezas de Barangay”, the past “Capitanes Municipales” serving as the local town council.
Laureano Pan was the first to serve as the local executive (1901-1903) in Goa during the American occupation. The establishment of the first American school was hastened by the unexpected capture of “Commandante” Faustino Perfecto, in-charge of a contingent of KKK troops stationed at Panagan River, by the American troops on the road to Naga. The American school opened in 1902 with Samuel D. Broadley as the supervising teacher. The first three American teachers were Stickney, Cappage, and Tabor, a colored American. Evidently, the Americans realized as early as then, the strategic location and prominence of the town in Partido area. From 1904 up to the end of the decade, Goa was one of only four places in Ambos Camarines with intermediate classes up to grade seven. The others were Nueva Caceres (Naga City), Daet and Iriga. The national road connecting Goa to Naga via Anayan was constructed in 1917. It was also in 1917 when the construction of the Municipal Hall was started which was completed in 1922. With the first automobile that traveled the Naga-Partido road, modernization slowly flowed in. In 1925, Jose Centenera, installed the first electric ǥëñeŕàtôŕ that lighted the town until the Japanese occupation. In the same year, he also opened a movie house, which featured serialized silent movies. In 1926, Goa had a modern concrete market pavilion and abattoir to replace the old market building.
The traditional Open Market day on Sunday, was initiated in 1945, though this is no longer true today since as the trade and commercial center in the 3rd District of Camarines Sur, every day is already a market day. It was also in 1946 that Goa donated parcels of land to the Province of Camarines Sur for the establishment of Partido High School (converted to Partido National High School, then to Partido State College and now as Partido State University). Telecommunication service by telegraph was provided in 1950. The Goa Civic Square, an open park surrounded by huge acacia trees where the locals of Goa held almost all public activities – from amateur singing contest to political fora, benefit dances, fiesta celebrations, summer basketball competitions, etc., was constructed between 1952 and 1954. Next was the construction of the ABC Building between 1968 and 1971 under ABC President Alberto A. Din. The Camp Jovi Fuentebella in Lamon became the National Jamboree site in 1983. There was a trend of constructing covered basketball courts in majority of the municipalities in the country in the early nineties.
On January 30, 1986, Mayor Lorenzo Padua was campaigning for President Ferdinand Marcos during the 1986 Philippine presidential election on his motorcycle when he was assassinated by unknown gunmen.
By 1993, the Goa Civic Square was converted to become the covered Goa Sports Complex that now exists in front of the former Goa Municipal Hall Building (now Goa Community College.)
The Goa Municipal Hall is now located in Brgy. Tagongtong, Goa, Camarines Sur along with the Municipal Police Station, Señor Citizen's Office and the Municipal Infirmary.
