[2] In 1602, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz built the first wooden church in Kretinga and established a Benedictine monastery, which became a great success.

In 1609, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz announced that he would establish a new settlement next to the old village and would grant the new borough Magdeburg rights.

[3] In 1621, the Sapieha family gained control of the city; they changed its coat of arms to represent Saint Casimir.

Following the fashions of the Victorian era, the family landscaped it lavishly and built a greenhouse featuring exotic flowering plants and tropical fruits.

During World War I, the Germans built a railway line connecting Bajorai,[4] Kretinga, and the Latvian city of Priekule.

During the first Soviet occupation, under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a reign of terror resulted in local residents being arrested and, in some cases, executed without trial or deported to Siberia.

[5] As in neighbouring Palanga, local Lithuanian nationalists volunteered to assist in the killing of Jewish citizens as soon as the German army and police units had arrived.

The local economy stagnated under Soviet occupation, which forcibly collectivized the farms in the area; it became an economic backwater.