1557 Founded on Wallachian lawZaložené na valašskom práve

In 1556 František Thurzo took over the Orava estate, and the next year he issued a charter to a man named Ondrej Rando to found a settlement here. The terms were Wallachian law, the arrangement used all along the Carpathians for settling high, cold ground: a šoltýs, a hereditary headman, brought in families, took the mill and the best land, and the settlers paid in sheep, cheese and labour rather than grain — because grain is a gamble at this altitude. The people who came were herders, many of them Gorals from the north. That is why the villages around Námestovo still look and sound different from the lower valley.V roku 1556 prevzal František Thurzo oravské panstvo a hneď nasledujúci rok vydal Ondrejovi Randovi listinu na založenie osady na tomto mieste. Podmienkou bolo valašské právo, spôsob, akým sa po celých Karpatoch osídľovala vysoká a studená pôda: šoltýs, dedičný richtár, priviedol rodiny, dostal mlyn a najlepšiu pôdu a osadníci platili ovcami, syrom a robotou namiesto obilia — obilie je totiž v tejto nadmorskej výške hazard. Prichádzali pastieri, mnohí gorali zo severu. Preto dediny okolo Námestova dodnes vyzerajú aj znejú inak než dolná časť doliny.