During the Middle Ages, the aristocracy and the church contributed greatly to the extension of uninhabited areas and it was in the 13th century that the Walser colonization took place. Groups of people left the 'Upper Valais" in southwest Switzerland to cultivate other areas. The inhabitants of the west side of the Lauterbrunnen Valley came from the Lotschen Valley in the south, perhaps via the "Petersgrat." The first settlements were in Trachsellauenen, Sichellauenen, Gimmelwald, Murren, as well as Ammerten , which has since disappeared. The inhabitants of Wengen was also settled early but they came from the Aare Valley in the north. Lauterbrunnen village itself, due to the unpredictable flooding of the untamed Lutschine river, was stettled later than the higher slopes. Although Lauterbrunnen and Murren have been known since they first appeared in official records in 1257, and Wengen in 1268, first mention of these emigrants from the Lotschental was found in a document dated in 1331, connecting them with the church at Gsteig: back in 1133 an Augustinian monastery was founded in Interlaken and during the middle ages, the feudal system of land ownership had spread throughout the Jungfrau region. This document of 1331 connecting interest on Sefinen alpine rights owed to this monastery. A title deed dated 1346 is evidence of the existence of the Walsers in the settlements of Gimmelwald, Trachsellauenen, Sichellauenen, and Ammerten.
In 1349 there was a secret alliance between the people of Gimmelwald, Ammerten and Lauterbrunnen with Obwalden in an uprising against the monastery at Interlaken. Around 1350 monks from the monastery in Interlaken succeeded in extending their sphere of influence as far as Wengen and Wengernalp and eventually the whole Lauterbrunnen valley fell into their hands. In 1487 a church was established in Lauterbrunnen and adorned with a bell that was ordered from their old home of Gsteig, which can still be seen in front of the newer church here today. With the spread of the Reformation, the satisfactory way of life with the monastery had been violently interrupted by the Bernese aristocracy pursuing secularization. Not wanting to pay the interest and tithes on the confiscated monastery property, many small villages in the Jungfrau region fought to save their Catholic faith, resulting in their bloody defeat in 1528. Thus the State of Berne formally took possession of the monastery in Interlaken and in appreciation for their help persuading the stubborn farmers. Berne gave the mountain rights on the Sefinen Alp as a gift to a town, outside the valley, known as Unterseen (near Interlaken). From the Middle Ages until the 19th century there were mines for iron. lead and zinc in Stechelberg and near Trachsellauenen. The stone furnaces used in the smelting of the ore still stand in situ throughout the valley.
Around 1645 the cultivation of bread-cereals ceased in Gimmelwald and Murren and by 1653 most of the 105 families in the Lauterbrunnen valley were poverty-stricken. If things weren't bad enough, the Great Plague struck in 1669 killing 360 of an estimated 580 inhabitants in the valley.

In 1776 almost all of the once-significant settlement of Ammerten was destroyed by an avalanche. In an area where wine, entertainment, coffee and tobacco were not known, hard work and then more hard work, transformed Murren into what was thought, in 1783, to be the richest village in the valley with 26 households, 92 inhabitants and 110 cows wintered. Gimmelwald had 18 households, 75 inhabitants and 118 cows wintered. By this time Gimmelwald and Murren also shared a school. By the beginning of the 19th century, guide books describing the valleys charms attracted visitors from all over and soon efforts at various crafts such as wood-working. lace-making and weaving were quickly being replaced by tourism. The year of 1811 saw the start of mountaineering in Lauterbrunnen and the 1st ascent of the Jungfrau. Soon the hotel trade began and in 1834 - 1835 the first licenses for inns on the pass over Kleine Scheidegg were given to Wengernalp and Kleine Scheidegg. In 1857 the first hotel in Murren, the "Silberhorn", was built. After only seven years there were enough tourists in Murren to warrant daily post delivery. In 1869, Gimmelwald, eager to get on the bandwagon opened its first hotel, the "Schilthorn", with 50 beds. Wengen had only a few guest houses when the "Pension Wengen" was built in 1880. The last decade of the 19th century witnessed the opening of a number of railways in the Jungfrau region including the BOB - Bernese Oberland Railway - from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, and the Wengernalp, Schynige Platte and Murren Railways. In 1912, after 16 years of building, Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe, was finished with a total construction cost of 14.9 million Sfr or about 1 .6 million Sfr/km. In 1912 the Allmenhubel funicular also began operation allowing extensive skiing at Winteregg and Blumental. Ten years later, in 1922, Sir Arnold Lunn invented the modern Slalom which was held on the slope just above the Jungfrau hotel in Murren. The population of Murren in 1930 was 243 inhabitants, Gimmelwald had 228. In 1937 the Inauguration of the Sphinx observatory took place and farther down. on the opposite side of the valley. above Murren, the Schiltgrat skilift, the first in the Bernese Oberland, was constructed. In 1954 the aerial cableway from Wengen to Mannlichen was built and a year later the Jungfraujoch Post Office, the highest in Europe, was in operation. In 1965 the first three sections of the Schilthorn cableway, from Stechelberg to Gimmelwald and then to Murren, were opened. The last stretch to the peak of the Schilthorn was completed in 1967. In 1973 the village of Isenfluh. which had been independent up until then, became part of Lauterbrunnen. In 1987 the road connecting Isenfluh with Lauterbrunnen was destroyed by a landslide brought on by severe thunderstorms. An aerial cableway was used for the next couple of years to link the village with the valley while a new road was being constructed. Finished in 1992, this new road is unique in that it does a complete 360 degree turn inside the solid rock cliff on which Isenfluh is perched. Today Murren, Lauterbrunnenmand Wengen are almost exclusively to tourism. Stechelberg and the villages of Gimmelwald and Isenfluh are basically still dairy farming communities.