Until around 1910, there was a longstanding division between the southern side of the village, known as Greater Appony (Nagyappony in Hungarian, Veľké Oponice in Slovak) and traditionally held by the Apponyis, and the northern side or Lesser Appony (Kisappony, Malé Oponice), where other families have long been dominant.

Census data from the 19th century documents that the overwhelming majority of the village's population were Slovaks, the rest being mostly Germans and Hungarians.

[9][10] The Apponyi fortress is an ancient hillside castle that may have been first built under the Great Moravian Empire and took a high medieval shape in the 13th century.

[14] A major addition was the construction in the mid-19th century of a dedicated new wing to host the Apponyi Library following its transfer from Bratislava.

The castle hosted illustrious visitors, including Theodore Roosevelt in 1910, Josephine Baker, and the Maharaja of Patiala in 1930.

It was sold in the late 1930s to the Slezák family and was taken over under Czechoslovakia's Communist regime by an agricultural cooperative, which caused considerable degradation to both the building and the Library.

Before 1790, Apponyi family members were buried in nearby monasteries such as Zobor Abbey, but these were dissolved under Joseph II and remains were transferred to the Oponice church crypt.

In 1910 following the previous year's death of Count Lajos Apponyi, his widow Margarethe had a large memorial plaque added on the side.