In the 19th century, the town's name was changed to Neustadt in Oberschlesien ("New Town in Upper Silesia"), while the Slavic name Prudnik was still used by its Polish inhabitants, which was mentioned in Upper Silesia's topographical description from 1865: "Der ursprünglische Stadtname "Prudnik" ist noch jetz bei den polnischen Landbewohnern üblich".

Traces of human presence in the area of the present-day town of Prudnik, confirmed by archaeological research, date back to the Paleolithic era.

[10] The local population of early Slavs held trade contacts with Rome, as documented by Roman coins found in Prudnik dating back to 700 BC–1250 AD.

[11] On a hill by the Złoty Potok river, in the western part of town, the remains of a warrior of the Germanic Vandals tribe, who died in the 4th century AD, were excavated.

[13] The earliest written information regarding settlements near Prudnik were included in the 1233 will of a Silesian nobleman Johannes Sibote, the owner of nearby villages of Jasiona, Skrzypiec, Krzyżkowice, Czyżowice and Lubrza.

[14] In 1253, the area was captured by the Czechs during a revenge campaign for the invasion of Opavian Silesia by Polish dukes Vladislaus I of Opole and Bolesław V the Chaste.

[21] During the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, a knight known as Maćko of Prudnik (Maczke von der Neuwidnstadt) fought in the Battle of Grunwald on 15 July 1410 alongside Polish troops.

[22][23] After the death of late Duke Vladislaus II's wife, brothers Bernard of Niemodlin and Bolko IV of Opole took over the area of Prudnik and Głogówek.

[25] On 23 March 1464, Prudnik and villages around it were excommunicated by Pope Pius II for refusing to pay the debt of Duke Konrad IV the Elder.

Although local historian Antoni Dudek has claimed that the excommunication was revoked in 16th century, the Holy See never revealed a document that lifted the curse.

[27] After the death of Duke Jan II the Good in 1532, Prudnik, along with the entire Duchy of Opole and Racibórz, was incorporated into the Habsburg monarchy.

Since the 16th century, the richest noblemen of the Duchy of Opole and Racibórz were settling in the town, and Prudnik became the most important industrial and political hub of Upper Silesia.

On 12 February 1629, Emperor Ferdinand II exiled the Protestant clergy of Prudnik, while people of the town were forced to convert to Catholicism.

This was caused by the fact that the town was an owner of eleven nearby villages: Czyżowice, Dębowiec, Dytmarów, Jasiona, Krzyżkowice, Lubrza, Piorunkowice, Pokrzywna, Skrzypiec, Szybowice, Wieszczyna and a part of Rudziczka.

After the feudal service was abolished in the 19th century and the villages became independent, Prudnik's Town Council began to look for a source of income in forestry.

The first spinning and weaving mills for wool, linen and silk were built in the town, as well as a textile factory (known as ZPB "Frotex" since 1945) founded by the Jewish industrialist Samuel Fränkel.

[43][44] Despite Prudnik being one of the biggest industrial centres of Upper Silesia, no workers' protests against capitalists were recorded to take place in the town, even during the Silesian weavers' uprising of 1844 and the Revolutions of 1848.

Everybody arriving in Prudnik had to report to the police, and the local military garrison was put on alert and took over the duties of units from nearby cities, as they were sent to guard the Prussian–Russian border.

One month later, Empress Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein visited Głuchołazy, Jarnołtówek and Prudnik to inspect places destroyed during the flood.

He was accompanied by Nazi officials and officers, including Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Gerd von Rundstedt, Erhard Milch and Hans-Jürgen Stumpff.

[62] During the Second World War, a military hospital was opened in the Fatebenefratelli monsatery again, with subsidiaries in the building of a local school and in the Castle in nearby Moszna.

[19] On 26 September 1944, a subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp was founded in the Schlesische Feinweberei AG textile mill (now ZPB "Frotex").

[64][65] During the final months of the war, the town was also a stopping place of death marches of thousands of prisoners of several other subcamps of Auschwitz,[65] and of Allied prisoners-of-war transferred by the Nazis from all over Europe to stalags built in occupied Poland.

According to a local priest Franz Pietsch, the bombardment was caused by drunk Russians shooting out incorrect light signals.

[85] In September 1980, 1,500 workers of ZPB "Frotex" and firefighters from the factory's fire brigade went on the biggest anti-communist strike in Opole Voivodeship.

The streets of Kochanowskiego, Morcinka, Chrobrego, Batorego, Powstańców Śląskich, Kolejowa, Ogrodowa, Nyska, as well as numerous industrial plants were flooded by water from the Prudnik river.

"Pionier" supplies components to brands such as: Ford, Fiat, Volkswagen, Bentley, Toyota, Audi, Lancia, BMW, Mini, Peugeot, Porsche, Citroën, Suzuki, Volvo, Saab, Hyundai and Abarth.

[143] Railway connections are available to cities and towns such as: Brzeg, Gliwice, Jelenia Góra, Katowice, Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Kłodzko, Kraków, Nysa, Wałbrzych, Zabrze.

Furthermore, on the county level, the census noted Belarusians, Russians, Czechs, Armenians, Jews, Australians, Austrians, Moldovans, Slovaks, French, Canadians, Swiss, Tatars, Karaites, Lithuanians, Lemkos, Belgians, Japanese, Greeks, Spaniards, Kazakhs and Scots.

[162] Under the governance of the Prudnik County are the Adam Mickiewicz and Stefania Sempołowska high schools, the Centre for Vocational and Continuing Education (Centrum Kształcenia Zawodowego i Ustawicznego), the District Centre for Practical Education (Powiatowe Centrum Kształcenia Praktycznego) and the agricultural school (Zespół Szkół Rolniczych).