Wessum was first mentioned in a document in 1122, making it one of the oldest towns in the old district of Ahaus. The name Wessum originally comes from the main farm "Wesheim", which the wives of Gottfried and Otto von Cappenberg donated to the Premonstratensian monastery in Cappenberg. The elementary school in Wessum still bears the name “Gottfried-von-Kappenberg-School” today.
After the Second World War, the village and the destroyed parish church of St. Martin were rebuilt, which also contains a 16th-century column of the Passion. For example, the ridge turret of the church tower was hit by a bomb and is still crooked today.
On April 1, 1936, the communities of Dorf Wessum and Kirchspiel Wessum were combined to form the new community of Wessum.
Until the end of 1974, Wessum was an independent municipality in the Wessum district, which also included the municipalities of Alstätte and Ottenstein. As part of the municipal area reform in the administrative district of Münster, based on the Münster/Hamm Act, Wessum lost its political independence on January 1, 1975 and was assigned to the city of Ahaus.