In the 12th century, the manor of the nobleman Rudolf de Weddinge was located on the small Panke River in the immediate vicinity of today's Nettelbeckplatz.

In the mid-18th century, while Gesundbrunnen was being built up as a health resort and spa town, gambling and prostitution moved into Wedding, transforming it into a pleasure district.

After World War I, Wedding was known as "Red Wedding" as it was renowned for its militant, largely Communist working class; it was the scene of violent clashes between paramilitary groups such as the KPD's Roter Frontkämpferbund and the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung in the late 1920s, including the Blutmai riots of 1929 in which the Social Democratic–controlled Berlin Police killed 33 Communists.

Though marvelously well constructed and kept secret, the tunnel was plagued by water from leaking pipes, and had to be shut down after only a few days of operation.

A section of the wall has been reconstructed near the spot on Bernauer Straße (since 2001 part of the locality of Gesundbrunnen) where the tunnel ended.

Unlike many other 19th-century working class districts like Prenzlauer Berg, the original character of Wedding has been mostly preserved.

By 2024, the district has also seen quite a long period of moving towards being a desirable part of Berlin to live, especially by the young creative class and that mixes with some of its deprived areas.

As of 2011, the ethnic make-up of Wedding was 52% of German origin, 18% Turks, 6% Sub-Saharan African, 6% Arabs, 6% Polish, 5% former Yugoslavia, and 4.5% Asian.

A green oasis marks the west borders of the "old red" district, with Volkspark Rehberge, Goethepark and the idyllic Plötzensee, a lake in the southwest.