One of the earliest documented Wiesbaden guilds is that of the butchers. In 1474, Count Johann drew up an order stipulating where and when meat was to be sold, the type of livestock to be slaughtered in the various seasons and the prices. The guilds of bakers, who from 1525 had to comply with regulations on the size and weight of baked goods, and of shoemakers and tanners, for whom regulations were issued in 1496, also had a considerable age. Guild regulations for millers and cloth weavers were issued in the 16th century

Wiesbaden's guilds were neither economically nor numerically significant: at the beginning of the 19th century, twelve guilds were mentioned that had ten or more members; the largest was that of the tailors with 36 members. Nevertheless, they played an important role in economic life: not only did they regulate the duration and content of apprenticeship training and the taking of the journeyman's examination, they also regulated the influx of master craftsmen, determined which masterpiece had to be presented and intervened in many other details of commercial life. Although they also had social and charitable tasks, such as providing for guild members and surviving dependants who were unable to work or subsidizing funerals, their restrictive nature prevailed.

As a result, the guild trade stagnated. Since the 16th century, repeated attempts had been made to reform the guild system in the German Empire, without any significant success. It was not until 1731 that the proposals put forward by the imperial estates to improve the craft guilds brought about some beneficial innovations: Among other things, they provided for the appointment of chief guild masters to oversee the guilds.

From this time onwards, the guilds in Wiesbaden were also subject to an official appointed by the sovereign. In the Duchy of Nassau, the old guild constitution - after the French National Assembly had already banned guilds in 1791 - was dissolved by edict on May 19, 1819. From then on, the right to operate a trade was only dependent on the citizen operating the trade being of good repute and having a trade license which was renewed annually. This meant that the principles of legal equality and free competition were recognized in economic life, and businesses became independent of membership of a guild.

This was accompanied by the introduction of a trade tax, although the guilds remained free corporations. In 1881, the Reichstag recognized guilds as institutions under public law; it transferred apprenticeship training to them and approved the sponsorship of social institutions such as guild health insurance funds and technical colleges. These responsibilities were finally regulated on July 26, 1897 in the Craftsmen's Act, which also provided for the formation of chambers of crafts.

At the turn of the century, the chamber responsible for the Grand Duchy of Hesse was founded. The old guild constitution was thus finally superseded by a modern form of craft organization.