The Beutau originally consisted of the Upper, Middle and Lower Beutau; it was not until the end of the 19th Century that the Turmstrasse was developed. Today's Geiselbachstrasse was created in the 1930s by building over the Geiselbach stream.
It is because of this stream that the district indirectly owes its name, which is unique in Germany: in the Middles Ages the water supplied the energy for an oil mill, called "bytun mulin" (beating or pounding mill). In a broader sense, the name Beutau thus comes from the German words for "to exploit, to squeeze".
The Beutau was the suburb of the poorer people, mainly winegrowers. They cultivated the patricians’ vineyards as tenants. Their social position can be easily seen in the many small, still preserved houses. Only in the Upper Beutau are there some stately burgher houses, whose owners were certainly not poor tenants or weavers, the second large group of inhabitants. It is not without reason that in former times this alley was also called "Herrenbeutau" in the vernacular.
What they have in common are the large cellar doors, now often bricked up, through which the wine barrels were brought up or lowered. The tenants had to deliver the ripe grapes to the wine presses of the vineyard owners and received pressed wine as payment, which they were allowed to sell in their houses. This gave rise to the “Besenwirtschaften” (taverns selling home-grown wine), one of which is located in the Middle Beutau.
The fact that wine and its production played a central role in the Beutau can also be seen in the preserved utility buildings: Three former “Pfleghöfe”, i.e. branches of external monasteries with vineyards in Esslingen, are preserved here. The monasteries of Blaubeuren, Salem and Kaisheim thus secured the supply of wine from Esslingen.
A total of 5 wine presses were located in this small neighbourhood and Esslingen's industrial history was written in 1826 in that of the Kaisheimer Pfleghof: Georg Christian Kessler founded Germany's oldest sparkling wine cellar here, which later moved to the Speyrer Pfleghof next to the parish church.
