It is said that this tower was once used as a detention tower for female offenders. According to tradition, there was a pillory on the tower where nasty and quarrelsome women were put on display. However, due to its remote location in the northwest corner of the city, this assumption seems rather unlikely, especially since there was a pillory in the center at the town hall. Women sentenced by the court were placed in the so-called "violin", a board in the shape of a bass violin, through whose holes the delinquent's head and arms were stuck. Another form of punishment was "stone carrying": the convicted woman had to carry a heavy stone from one city gate to the other. It is assumed that the tower served as a social facility for disadvantaged women. It was used as a residence from the beginning of the 19th century. Traces of soot from an open fireplace can still be clearly seen on the upper floor. What effort must it have been for the residents to lug firewood, water and food up there? The widow Walburga Beer lived here with her four children from 1904 to 1920.
Since 1999, the Frauenturm has once again lived up to its name; a group of seven women, the Literaturmers, meet here regularly in the small tower parlor for creative writing seminars.