In the 1760s it was earl Antal Grassalkovich who had the baroque building built as a rest-house in which now the museum works. The four permanent exhibitions present the image how the aboriginal Reformed farmers living near the castle, the Catholic workers settled in the 18th century, the Israelite merchants arriving in the middle of the 19th century, and the artists who settled here in the time of the Dualism shaped, enriched the picture of the town.

The museum endeavours to nurse the appreciation of local values, strengthen the feeling of parochialism while also having an effect on the culture of the surroundings by its fastidiousness that keeps quality and small details in view.

Teachers and students started to gather the collection of the museum in 1952. The conditions for institutionalization were met in 1978, when the school-standard exhibition expanded, and the Local History Collection was founded. After ten years of intensive work the institution gained the rank of a museum and is maintained by the local government. The building was renovated in 2000 by the town of Gödöllő, which significantly extended the exhibiting and functional possibilities of the institution. In 2001 the museum won the highest rank professional honour, the "Museum of the Year" title.

There are more chapters in Gödöllő's history which can account for not only national but international interest too, for example the Hungarian art nouveau artists' colony (1901-1920) or the scouting.