Around 700 AD, a hill fort on the shore of the Baba lake was the residence of a Pomeranian tribal chief.

[3] The town later belonged to the Potulicki family which provided it with a new Gothic castle in Renaissance style at the beginning of the 17th century.

In 1619, Jan Potulicki issued a founding document for the church and parish of the Holy Assumption of Mary.

Despite the Germanisation policy of the Prussian authorities, local Poles founded several organizations, including the People's Bank (Bank Ludowy), the Cecylia choir, which is one of the oldest still existing choirs of Greater Poland and an agricultural and trade cooperative, all three of these entities operate to this day.

Despite this, the town became the seat of local branches of the Union of Poles in Germany and the Polish-Catholic School Society.

In 1939, shortly before the invasion of Poland, local Polish activists and teachers were arrested and later imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.

[6] During World War II, the Polish resistance conducted espionage of German activity in the town.

[7] In the last months of the war, the town was captured by Polish troops in the Battle of Złotów [pl] on 31 January 1945 and was finally reintegrated with Poland.

Its first post-war mayor was Jan Kocik [pl], leading pre-war Polish activist in Złotów, who was imprisoned by the Germans in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during the war.

Already in 1945, new Polish schools were founded, and both the Sparta Złotów sports club and the "Cecylia" choir resumed their activities.