The history of Kamnik reaches back to prehistory. The most prosperous era for the town was the Middle Ages, which were followed by periods of rises and falls. Kamnik developed greatly during the 19th and the 20th Centuries, at which time various industries were established.  During the Middle Ages, the town of Kamnik was a flourishing craft centre with a mint and the home of numerous well-known families. In written sources Kamnik is first mentioned in 1061, its townspeople in 1229.

The town settlement began at the confluence of the Kamniška Bistrica and the Nevljica rivers, along an important merchant path, which connected the former counties of Štajerska and Kranjska, i.e. along the main trading path between Hungary and Trieste. The settlement was the centre of the land owned by the Andechs counts, a feudal family of European significance. The family was of Franconian descent, in the 10th Century it arrived in south Bavaria and later moved to the region of Slovenia. For a long time, Kamnik was the centre of their extensive property, which included the area of the entire present Municipality of Kamnik, from Kranj to Ločica. Their worth and importance was expressed also by the mint at Mali grad, where after 1220 they began to mint coins with the inscription "Civitas Stein" (town of Kamnik).The Medieval town of Kamnik was protected by town walls, numerous defence towers and 4 town gates. The development of the town was most influenced by trade and crafts, the merchants from Kamnik were widely known – in Trieste, Reka, and Piran. During the time, the mint and cutlery trades were most developed, later other crafts also developed: ironworks, leather trade, pottery, fur trade, stonecutting, architecture. From the 14th Century Kamnik was the seat of the provincial court, for a time it was the capital of Carniola, later it became the most influential provincial town besides Ljubljana. Later still, the town began to gradually degenerate. The main traffic was re-directed to the old Roman road through Črni Graben (Trojane), where later the postal traffic between Graz and Venice was also redirected. Furthermore, the town was menaced by Turks, the plague, an earthquake (the worst in 1511) and numerous fires.  Kamnik's industry flourished particularly in the second half of the 19th Century. The beginning of the industrial era in Kamnik is marked by the powder magazine, which was established in 1853. In 1857, Prašnikar's cement works began operation, in 1876 Alojzij Prašnikar also organised a climatic spa with Kneipp's method of healing. He is also credited for bringing the first train into Kamnik in 1891. Six years later, in 1896, the beginnings of the metal product factory Spalek are noted, later to become Titan. The greatest surge of industrial development in Kamnik began after World War II: 3 new factories for wood processing, the powder magazine developed into a factory and manufacture of explosion materials and processing of coloured metals and plastic masses (Kemijska industrija Kamnik – KIK), the Titan factories of metal products began operation. Usnjarna Kamnik developed a leather processing plant and leather ready-made clothing Utok, on Duplica a large furnishings factory Stol grew. The mustard and canned goods factory Eta was established and developed. Newly established were also: factory of polyester and pull material Trival, textile and interior design factory Ideja, fitting company Alprem, electro-technical product company Svit, meat product factory Meso Kamnik. In construction, the company Graditelj established itself, while the largest trade network was developed by the Kočna trade company. As a result of contemporary trends in economy, most of the companies declared bankruptcy or split up into smaller units.