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History of Dresden, Ohio

Dresden is located on or near the site of the Delaware (Native American) village of Wakatomika, which gave its name to Wakatomika Creek, the creek that empties into the Muskingum River near the northern edge of the village. This settlement was burned around 1794 during Lord Dunmore's War, opening the area for White settlement.

In the 19th century Dresden was an important trading town on the Ohio and Erie Canal. A side cut canal linked the Ohio and Erie Canal with the Muskingum River. A suspension bridge built by George Willison Adams and John Augustus Roebling once crossed the Muskingum River at Dresden.

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 today employs nearly 70,000 people as the largest manufacturer of handmade baskets in the United States. It is home of "The World's Largest Basket", according to the Guinness Book of World Records.