[3] The name "Calumpit" comes from the tree "Kalumpít", an indigenous hardwood species similar to apalit and narra, which grows abundantly in front of the St. John the Baptist Parish Church in the Población-Sucol area.

When Calumpit was Hispanized and established as a political and geographical entity in 1572, they chose what is today Barangay Población as the site of the church and the administrative center of the aforementioned villages, which were annexed to it.

Upon hearing that Tondo was conquered by Martín de Goíti and Juan Salcedo, and that Rajah Matanda allied with the Spaniards in May 1571, Bambalito formed a fleet of two thousand natives mostly from Hagonoy and Macabebe.

On 14 November 1571, they reached Calumpit and Malolos and reported it to Miguel López de Legazpi, the first Spanish Governor-General of the Philippines.

Calumpit was simultaneously established with the conventos of Bay, Laguna, Tondo and Lubao, Pampanga, with De Rada as its prior and Fray Diego Vivar as his vicar.

Accounts state that the Augustinian missionaries planted a wooden cross along the bank of the Meyto River to symbolise the baptism of the land, and they built a chapel made of nipa and bamboo.

Primarily, Meyto, Meysulao, Panducot and Calumpit was independent barangays under their own chiefs, it is same with Gatbuka, Bugyon and other old settlements.

This parochial beginnings of Calumpit have included the old villages of Hagonoy, Apalit, Candaba, Malolos and Macabebe as its missions.

In 1581, Hagonoy had its own convent but still under the Governor of Calumpit, while in 1591 Apalit officially separated and established as an independent town, and it was transferred in the reconfigured territory of Pampanga province.

Many notable Calumeteños helped establish and support the Malolos Republic, with the town serving as a defense line due to its proximity to the new capital.

[9] Civil administration under the United States-led Insular Government was established in Calumpit in April 1901, with Juan Galang serving as the first elected American-era mayor of the town.

On 18 November 1959, former mayor Fausto Carlos was convicted for the murder of suspected Hukbalahap rebel Artemio Mutuc at the municipal building 11 years prior and was sentenced to life in prison.

Constructed under Augustinian friars Martín de Rada and Diego Vivar, it was initially made of nipa and bamboo and gradually built of stone in 1700.

It enshrines the local patron saint, John the Baptist, whose liturgical birthday on 24 June is celebrated as the town fiesta.

Inside the church is a tunnel that, as legend would have it, was used by priests during the Spanish era as an escape route in the event of Chinese and Moro pirate attacks.

[17] The Meyto Shrine marks the cradle of Christianity in western Bulacan, where a wooden cross was first planted and first mass in the region was said in May 1572.

The ritual and its traditional route are relics of the old fluvial procession held when Apalit and Hagonoy were still governed from Calumpit.

Every June 23, a day before John the Baptist's feast, Calumpit's 29 barangays participate in the "Libad sa Ilog" fluvial float parade.

[27] One of the oldest barangays in the town, established in 1575, Santa Lucia is very popular and famous because of the supposedly miraculous image of its patroness, Saint Lucy.

On March 24–25, 2023, the town's 451st Founding Anniversary, Mayor Glorime M. Faustino led the 1st Calumpit longganisa Festival with a 514 meters "Longest Boodle Fight" along Pulilan Regional Road.

3,000 people who participated from Barangays Caniogan and Corazon ate the star "Longganisang Bawang" of Bikers Longganisa makers.

[29] Bagbag Bridge was the site of the longest battle between the Americans and Filipinos led by General Gregorio del Pilar on April 25, 1899.