Ópályi was first mentioned in 1294 by III. András's adjudication letter. 

The village had already been built up before the settlement of the Hungarians, as it was proved by the troves later found and that are kept in the András Jósa Museum. It was named after the latin name -Paul- it became Pauli that means Pal's, Pal's possession. 

The village suffered a lot first from many attacks by the tartars and then from contagion. Many Slovak, Rusyn origins settled in here, these origins still show in the names used nowadays. A significant amount of Jewish population lived here at the beginning of the century, the biggest minority now is the continously increasing number of gypsies. 

Mátészalka being the centre of culture and trade in the region has had significant influence over the village's latter development. Ópályi is amongst the leading infrastructural regions. Solid pavements, road surfaces and drinking water pipes were built before the 1990-s. 

Things started developing fast after the 90-s when the phone lines in 1993, the gas in 1995 and the drain system got built out. Recently the nyirparasznyi road have been renovated , Széchenyi street has been widened by 6 meters,  the Kraszna bridge has been renovated also and  the train station's platform has been built as well.  In 2000 a park was made out of the Greek catholic cemetery, also we managed to enlarge the school, which has a new kitchen, dining area and extra classrooms. In 2001 we renovated the roof on top of the school, this was funded by the county's vis major capital. 

One of the streets got damaged during the flood this has been renovated as well. The football pitch's lawn has been regenerated recently. The collective waste removal was introduced in 2000. We started implementing the landscape plan that involves creating parks, planting plants, flowers, trees in common areas. We managed to buy a tractor with a snow shovel from winning a tender. 

We got the funds from either the Regional Development Centre, the County's Employment Centre, OFA or the Government, but we also had to add up to the funds from our own resourses. Unfortunately there are no businesses yet that could solve the unemployment in Ópályi. The local authorities and its institutes and a couple of small businesses provide employment for locals. Most employees work in Mátészalka's factories. 

The gypsy minory has a negative effect upon the locals life. We try to improve their situation as well, we have renovated 40 of their houses, we have put drinking water pipes into their living areas, we built more than 600m pavement and started an adult education program for them to complete 7th and 8th grade, there is also a new class in the kindergarten and special aide classes in shool for them to catch up with the classes.Thanks to the village's high level social life more and more people are buying houses in Ópályi. 

Recently we introduced art classes and swimming lessons in school. There is an active sport life in the village, there is a junior and a senior football team playing in the county's II. league. The handball team both men and women play in the county's first qualified league.The greek-catholic, roman-catholic and the protestant churches are where the religious community can practise their religions. 

The Ópályi Friends Club have been organising significant cultural events for the population. These are the annual Ópályi World Meetings, 1st of May celebrations, Harvest Festival. Since 1995 we have had the Ópályi newspaper prepared by the Ópályi Friends Club. 

There is a Cheerladies team, modern dance group, folk dance group. We founded the Cinkés Music Band. These groups have been very successful at events around the region, in the county and at talent contests.  There is an information centre called Teleház which was originally funded by winning a tender.

The Ópályi Charity and the Foundation for pupils of the Ópályi Primary School help all the pupils/ people in need.We have funded the Jókai Mór Cultural Centre, this is to integrate the educational, cultural educational and elderly care activities.