In 1550, the Upper Hungarian Chamber, believing that the right of the royal salt monopoly was being violated in the area, sent two royal commissioners from Hallstadt, Andreas Kraiser and Joseph Milaver, who were experts in salt mining, to Slaná Voda.

The commissioners wrote an extensive report on the visit to the springs and attached a manuscript map of the wider area, in which, Oravská Polhora can be seen.

On October 1, 1939, following the Munich agreement, Polish troops, using Czechoslovak weakness to solve all border disputes in their favor, marched into the very northern tip of Oravská Polhora, annexing the Jalovec mountain peak.

There is a border crossing in the eastern part of Oravská Polhora into the Polish village of Korbielów.

The town contains a complex of forests and iodine-bromine springs, also known as spa salt water.