Dresden, Ohio is located near the site of a Shawnee (Native American) village known as Wakatomika. The Wakatomika Creek is near the northern edge of the village and empties into the Muskingum River.

The Town of Dresden was laid out in 1817. This was also the year that the first merchant, Laban Lemert, opened business out of a log house.

In 1812, Seth Adams kept and sold imported pure-blooded Merino sheep from Spain in or near Dresden. He is also credited with planting the first tomatoes in the area with seeds he got from New Orleans.

Dresden was incorporated on March 9th, 1835. It is in Jefferson and Cass Township in Muskingum County.

The early spring of 1901 began the construction of the Dresden telephone exchange. The first subscribers were connected by November 1901

Dresden is the birthplace of the Longaberger Company, famous for handmade maple splint baskets. Started in 1919 by the J.W. Longaberger family, the company employed nearly 2,000 people as the largest manufacturer of handmade baskets in the United States. The company was liquidated in 2018. It is the home of “The World’s Largest Basket”, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.