There are findings in Rüdern which suggest a rich grave with eastern influence, including, for example, a set of three-winged spear heads.

The ending "-ingen" indicates a group of people wherein a man named Azzilo, Hezzilo or Hetsilo was landlord and family patriarch played an influential role.

He bequeathed the sixth cell upon the river Neckar that he had received from an Alemannic nobleman by the name of "Hafti" to his monastery, Saint-Denis.

He also brought the bones of Saint Vitalis to Esslingen, which made it a destination for pilgrims and led to its growth.

During the same period the still-extant Neckar bridge was built, making Esslingen a major center for trade on the route between Italy, Switzerland, and northern Germany.

Taxes provided by the bridge and market led to further growth of the town, as did the export of the highly regarded wines from the region.

Esslingen lost its independence as an Imperial city during the Napoleonic era in 1802–1803, becoming part of the Duchy of Württemberg.

Glove manufacturing, food processing, textiles, and metal working were early industries in Esslingen.

After the Second World War about 47,000 people moved to Esslingen, mostly refugees and displaced persons from East Germany.

Esslingen is directly on the B10 State Highway which runs as a dual carriageway from Stuttgart to Süßen, and continues onward to Ulm.

Despite the six to eight lanes on the new Pliensau Bridge and the surrounding roads, the infrastructure around Pliensauvorstadt and the route to Zollberg still suffers from frequent congestion.

Esslingen (Neckar) station is on the Fils Valley Railway and is served by line S 1 of the Stuttgart S-Bahn and regional services.

The tram had to negotiate a five kilometer gradient out of the Neckar Valley to reach the towns and villages of the Eastern Filder region.

In total, the system transported 153 million passengers from Denkendorf and later from Neuhausen to Esslingen, and took delivery of two new open trams in 1958.

The next phase, completed in November 2014, was a large-scale redevelopment of the station forecourt to create a bus and rail interchange.