[2] When the Protestant Reformation arrived in Glarus, Betschwanden adopted the new faith.

A spinning mill opened in 1843 and a warehouse was added in 1910; it is now a textile chemical factory.

A station of the Schweizerische Nordostbahn (Swiss North-East Railway) opened in the village in 1879.

[1] Betschwanden has an area, as defined by the former municipal boundaries in 2006, of 9.7 km2 (3.7 sq mi).

Of the rest of the land, 1.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (33.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).

[4] Betschwanden is located on the Hauptstrasse 17, which runs the length of the canton of Glarus before climbing the Klausen Pass into the canton of Uri, as well as on the Weesen to Linthal railway line that parallels the main road and the Linth river through Glarus.

The high alpine Klausen Pass is normally only open to traffic between June and September, and for the rest of the year the road and railway up the valley form the only access to the village.

Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (93.0%), with Finnish being the only other language listed in the census (0.6%).