The village dates back to medieval ages. It was mentioned in the papal tithe accounts of 1332-37. Ferenc Bebek and Mihaly Szalmatercsy, who was the heroic captain of the tower fort of Bussa, were the joint proprietors of the village. Turkish records from 1562 mention five taxable households. By 1616, the village became a desolate place after the many maraudes and skirmishes that took place in the region of the border forts. Count Istvan Kohary became its landlord in 1670. The 1715 county tax sheets mention six taxable households. Records from 1720 mention it as a village of nobles. By the end of the 18 century, one part of Szalmatercs became a serf village yet again, while the noble part was called Pusztatercs till 1846 when the two merged. The medieval parsonage was destroyed by the Turkish. There is no church in the village and that is why a prayer house was built in the early 1990s. Szalmatercs has a library with 12.000 volumes. The volunteer fire brigade of the village has been successfully operating for decades now. There are sixteen small businesses in the village, most of them in the commercial sector. Many inhabitants of the village engage in agricultural activities.