In the Middle Ages the Noteć became a natural border between the regions of Greater Poland and Pomerania, and the area became part of the emerging Polish state in the 10th century under the Piast dynasty.

Eventually Polish ruler Bolesław III Wrymouth (1106–1138) conquered the castles on the Noteć and incorporated Krajna into the Kingdom of Poland for the next 700 years.

From 1807 to 1815 the town was a part of the Polish Duchy of Warsaw, established by Napoleon, and subsequently it was given back to Prussia as a result of Congress of Vienna.

Wyrzysk and some surrounding areas was sold by Karol Rydzyński, Roch Sypniewski i Maria Samostrzelecki to King Frederick II The Great himself in 1773.

After years of Germanisation, when the area became increasingly populated by Germans, the Prussians abolished the law of corvée at the beginning of the 19th century.

The pressure of Germanisation and flood of German settlers encountered growing resistance from the discriminated Polish population of Krajna, who clung to their native language and the Roman Catholic religion.

Wyrzysk was incorporated into a newly reborn Poland in 1919 by Treaty of Versailles, but merely 20 years later, with the beginning of World War II, the town was yet again occupied by Germany and annexed into the new Third Reich province of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia as the seat of the county/district (kreis) of Wirsitz.