The town was attacked during the wars with the Turks, but regained its prominence in 1871 when the newly built railway passed through it connecting Budapest and Rijeka.

In the oldest Gothic Church of Holy Cross in Križevci, there are important Baroque frescoes and a marble altar dating from the 18th century (by Francesco Robba).

The iconostasis and the frescoes are the work of several important Croatian painters, including Ivan Tišov, Celestin Medović and Bela Čikoš-Sesija.

It was known in antiquity and in the Middle Ages because of its location along one of the main caravan routes; in fact, there was a famous "King's Coloman Road" that passed through Križevci, connecting Pannonia and Dalmatia.

In the more recent times it became a major transport hub: roads connecting Posavina and the region around Kalnik and Podravina were all already built in the 18th century; the railroad between Hungary and Zagreb, that goes through Koprivnica and Križevci (1870.

The city has been affected by major demographic and economic regional changes, most notably due to increased industrialization and the consequent decline in agricultural production, and rural communities, with the population move to Križevci.

[10] Križevci is home to a monument to the 37 people from the town who died in the Croatian War of Independence entitled the Mother of the Fallen Hero.