Foundation The name 'Łapy' is of
Masovian origin, and it initially represented a soubriquet of the kin, who founded the settlement on Narew. A legend links the foundation of the town with the nobleman Łappa of the
Lubicz coat of arms, who settled down here during the 15th-century
Masovian colonisation. The first historical records of these lands come from the early 13th century. It is known that in 1375
Płonka Kościelna was an independent parish. Firstly Łapy was a backwater where the
gentry cultivated patriotic traditions. Soon as a result of the village's development, new settlements emerged on the eastern and the western banks of the river
Narew, which was a water trade route from
Suraż to
Gdańsk in 16th and 17th centuries, and after World War II from
Puszcza Białowieska to
Tykocin; and at the east side of the high road from Suraż to Płonka.
Expansion Following the expansion of the family, a series of backwaters were founded, including Rechy, Brusięta,
Barwiki,
Korczaki,
Pluśniaki, Wągle, Wity, Zięciuki, Kosmyki, Łazie, Stryjce, Wojtysze. Some of those names disappeared replaced by others, such as: Goździki,
Dębowizna, Bociany, Leśniki. After the
Third Partition of Poland, in 1795, Łapy fell to the
Prussian Partition. In 1807, after the
Tilsit Peace Treaty, it became a part of the short-lived Polish
Duchy of Warsaw, and after its dissolution, in 1815, it passed to so-called
Congress Poland in the
Russian Partition of Poland. An important event for the future history of Łapy was Napoleonic army's marching through twice in 1812. In the 1820s the backwaters had 1000 inhabitants and 180 houses. In 1825, a fusion of six backwaters (Łapy-Barwiki, Łapy-Leśniki, Łapy-Zięciuki, Łapy-Wity, Łapy-Goździki, Łapy-Bociany) produced the farm settlement of Łapy.
Industrialisation Łapy owes its development to the
Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway with a station here, opened on 15 December 1862, and to the French having built here the works for repairing steam locomotives and carriages the same year. That caused an influx of tradesmen and labourers not only from the nearby villages, but also from distant Polish locations and from the
Russian Empire. In the beginning of the
January Uprising, the railway station was captured by a Polish insurgent detachment of Władysław Cichorski
nom de guerre "Zameczek" on the night of 22–23 January 1863, and then recaptured by the Russians on 27 January 1863. Further clashes between Polish insurgents and Russian troops were fought in Łapy on 11 and 18 July 1863. Following
World War I, Poland regained independence and control of Łapy. The repair works exist today as
'ZNTK Łapy S.A.' They played a decisive role in Łapy's urbanization, the town charter granted on 1 January 1925. At the eve of the German-Soviet
invasion of Poland, which started
World War II in 1939, the town population reached 8,000 citizens. Following the invasion, Łapy was first
occupied by the
Soviet Union until 1941, and then by Germany until 1944, when it was finally restored to Poland. During the war, the town was 80% destroyed, and the entire local Jewish population was murdered by the German occupiers in
the Holocaust. {{Historical populations|1921|3495|1931|6674|2010|16049 On Sunday, July 30, 1944, the
Wehrmacht set
Uhowo on fire. They also blew up the bridges over the Narew River. On July 31, they began destroying the city. Factory halls were blown up and the town was burning. The population hid in shelters and the church and Soviet planes shelled the church tower and German infantry positions near the cemetery on daily basis. On August 6, in the early morning hours, they launched a general assault. At around 11 in the morning, Soviet patrols entered the burning city. Following the end of the war the town became part of
Białystok Voivodeship. == Transport ==