It is located by the Mae Klong river, roughly 80 km (50 mi) west of Bangkok.

The new town, when it was first built, was flooded with Chinese immigrants migrating from southern China where drought had occurred for four consecutive years in the 1920s.

During the Second World War, the town experienced an economic boom due to its location being a hub between Bangkok to the east, Kanchanaburi to the north, and all the provinces in the south of Thailand.

All goods transported by rail from Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Burma and the southern provinces had to make a stop in Ban Pong.

Many large banking and governmental institutions sited their regional branches in Ban Pong.