It is one of the cities captured from the Byzantines by the Ottomans. Its name was Thebasion in the Byzantine period. In the Ottoman period, it was inhabited mostly in winter because people used to migrate to plateaus for summer.
It has the distinction of not only being one of the first settlements of the Ottomans but also having the tomb of Ertugrul Ghazi, the virtual founder of the Ottoman State and the father of Osman, who gave the empire his name. Thus, Söğüt has always been a holy place and has never lost its importance.
Every year in September, a festival in honour of the Ottomans is organized here. The tomb and the mescit of Ertuğrul Ghazi, the mosque of Çelebi Mehmet the Hamidiye Mosque, old schools and the museum in the city are worth seeing.