[2] The German name of the settlement, “Wildhaus” ("wild game house"), is first mentioned in 1361 of the Teutonic Order at the southern border of the Teutonic Order State Willenberg (Wildenberg) consisted only of a few buildings when it was founded by komtur Frederic von Willenberg.

In 1454 King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the town and region to the Kingdom of Poland upon the request of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation.

[2][6][7] In the 18th century the town was a center of cloth manufacturing and benefited from its location at the main road from Warsaw to Königsberg (Królewiec).

In 1813 Tsar Alexander I of Russia received the official message of the Prussian accession to the struggle against Napoleon by General von Kleist at Willenberg.

At that time the German Empire engaged in policy of Kulturkampf which combined anti-Catholicism with anti-Polish actions in areas inhabited by Poles.

Thanks to his efforts a petition was made to Prussian authorities demanding that Polish language should remain in rural schools.

During the Polish-Soviet war, a plebiscite was organized to determine if the town should remain in Germany or be attached to Poland, which just regained independence.

[23] Due to the Nazi Party's significant success in Masuria in the 1932 elections, Adolf Hitler visited the area in April 1932 and gave a speech in the town.

[6][24] In August 1939, Germany introduced martial law in the region, which allowed for increasing and blatant persecution of Poles.

[25] At the beginning of World War II, in September 1939, German troops invaded Poland towards Mława and Warsaw from the area.

Due to the fast Soviet advance, large parts of the populace remained in the town or were overrun on their flight.

[7] After World War II, the remaining German populace was expelled[7] in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement and the town became again part of Poland.