In addition to Waldbröl itself, which has a population of about 11,000, there are 64 separate sub-districts: Brölerhütte - Bruchhausen In 1131, the place was mentioned for the first time, as Waltprugele in a papal deed of ownership for the St. Cassius abbey in Bonn.

The first reference to a Waldbröl citizen was in a document of 1212, when a priest named Wolradu resided there and made a donation to St. Michael's abbey in the Berg county.

When Johann Wilhelm, the last duke of Berg-Mark, died in 1609, the Treaty of Xanten attributed the Berg County (including Waldbröl) to the duchy of Pfalz-Neuburg of the Wittelsbach family.

Hailing from Niederbreidenbach near Nümbrecht, Dr. Robert Ley, one of the leading representatives of National Socialism, intended to make Waldbröl the "largest town between Cologne and Kassel".

Amongst other things, the so-called Volkstraktorenwerke (National Tractor Plants), an Adolf Hitler School, and a Strength Through Joy (KdF) hotel were projected.

Apart from some unfinished buildings, only the hotel survived and initially after the war served as hospital, subsequently as school of the German armed forces and since 2006 as 'centre for encounter' of the European Institute of Applied Buddhism.

Among others, this process was fostered by the fact that Waldbröl resident Horst Waffenschmidt was Commissioner for Ethnic German Immigrants (Aussiedlerbeauftragter) of the Federal Government.