The first records in which Gedern is mentioned are from the year 780 AD. This document is about the donation of a piece of cleared property to the abbey in Lorsch by three Frankish noblemen. The place-name is thought to be even older, for in 754 AD the funeral procession with the dead Bonifatius passed Gedern on its way from Mainz to Fulda. The ruins of a chapel on the outskirts of Gedern mark the place where the procession paused for a rest.

In 1366 Gedern was entitled to be called a town and was given the right to hold a weekly market. After 1535 Gedern belonged to the counts, later princes of Stolberg. From 1677 to 1804 Gedern was residence for these nobles. In 1804 this line died out, and Gedern fell to Stolberg-Wernigerode. In 1806 the grand duke of Hesse-Darmstadt became sovereign, and Stolberg-Wernigerode remained in power in Gedern.

In the years after 1846 the population of Gedern had to cope with times of great need. Until 1861 the number of population went down to 1.900.

In 1888 the railroad reached Gedern, and with it came some industry.

In 1972 a regional reorganization united the towns and villages of Gedern, Ober-Seemen, Mittel-Seemen, Nieder-Seemen, Wenings and Steinberg to the new greater community of Gedern.

Wenings, which used to be owned by the counts of Isenburg-Buedingen, is not far from Gedern. Near Wenings there is the little village of Wernings. In 1842 almost all the inhabitants of Wernings left, due to economic plight. Together they crossed the Atlantic Ocean and settled in the area of St. Louis, Waterloo and Columbia.

(Excerpts from the chronicle by Erwin Diehl)