At the end of the 12th century a manor called "Wyda" is mentioned the first time, there's no exact year.

In March 1798 the French conquered Switzerland and proclamated the Helvetic Republic, in which Widen and Eggenwil formed one single municipality in the short-dated canton of Baden.

That's why today, compared to its merely catholic neighbour villages, Widen has a relatively high percentage of Protestant inhabitants.

On 1 May 1902 the Bremgarten-Dietikon-Bahn was founded and Widen was connected to the railway network, by a station on the Mutschellen pass.

Of the rest of the land, 37.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.4%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes).

[3] The village center is situated on a little plateau between the Mutschellen in the south and the Hasenberg in the north, of which the latter is the southernmost part of the Heitersberg.

Neighbour villages are Bellikon in the north, Bergdietikon in the north-east, Rudolfstetten-Friedlisberg in the east, Berikon in the south-east, Zufikon in the south and Eggenwil in the west.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a Willow Tree pollarded and eradicated Vert.

[3] The age distribution, as of 2008[update], in Widen is; 297 children or 8.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 372 teenagers or 10.4% are between 10 and 19.

[3] From the 2000 census[update], 1,442 or 39.7% were Roman Catholic, while 1,422 or 39.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.