Gustav Schwoeri Sr.

Gustav Schwoeri Sr. first appears in the directories for Camden NJ in 1890-1891. He appears  to  have move to Camden from Philadelphia in 1889. The directory states that he was living at and operating a saloon and brewery at 705 Chestnut Street, where Charles Steger had operated a saloon in 1888. 

It appears that Gustav Schwoeri rebuilt 703-705 Chestnut Street in 1898. He also was involved in the first brewery to operate in Camden. When Prohibition went into effect, the business went to bottling soft drinks. Gustave Schwoeri passed away in 1929, survived by his son Gustav Jr. and wife Mary. He was buried at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden NJ

The Schwoeri family remained in business, and after Prohibition was repealed, the family opened a liquor store at 700 Chestnut Street, while operating the saloon at 705 Chestnut Street, which was known as The Original Schwoeri’s. Mary Schwoeri lived above the saloon for the remainder of her life, passing on January 16, 1943 at the age of 90. Gustav Jr. managed the family's bottling business. He and his wife, the former Mary Young, lived at 412 Carteret Street from the 1920s until 1946, when they moved to Pennsauken.

The Schwoeri family was still in business at 705 Chestnut Street as late as 1947 and at 700 Chestnut Street as late as 1977, and the business is still open, under different ownership, in 2006. 

703-705 Chestnut Street was sold to to Richard D. Grayson, who operated under the name of the 705 Bar as late as 1966. The business was renamed the Chestnut Bar in late 1966 or early 1967, and was open under that named through at least 1977. After the Chestnut Bar closed, the license was apparently transferred next door to 707 Chestnut where "Deggy" Grayson was in business until the early 1990s. This bar was known alternately as "Deggy's" and as "The Hole in the Wall". In the early 1990s the Grayso family leased the bar out to different managers. By 1994 the bar had closed it's doors once and for all.

701, 703-705, & 707 Chestnut Street

703-705 Chestnut Street was built in 1898. After the liquor store opened across the street at 700 Chestnut, the bar remained open, and was called The Original Schwoeri's. It was later known as The Chestnut Bar. A bar later opened at 707 Chestnut Street. Known as Deggy's and The Hole In The Wall, it remained open into the mid-1990s.