Svinov used to be a very ancient Silesian village reported upon by Bruno, the Bishop of Olomouc, back in 1265. At that time, Svinov was part of the property of the Convent of Velehrad until the Hussite Wars. Commenced on 1 May, 1847, the railway, the so called Emperor Ferdinand North Railway, had a large impact on Svinov's future. Svinov took up the way of development into an industrial municipality and was acknowledged as a town of the District of Bílovec on 13 November, 1936. Before long, the new town was incorporated into Ostrava on 19 May, 1957, as a part of the large city district of Poruba. Following the elections of 1990, Svinov was semi-independent again, this time as a district of the city. Several companies are based at Svinov, like the tube rolling mill, a spirits factory, the chips producing Secalo a.s., a metal scrap company, etc. Svinov is an important railway junction with a station used by 30,000 passengers every day.