Introduction
Joseph S. Wisniewski owned and operated the Jefferson House saloon at 7th & Jefferson Streets in Camden’s 8th Ward in the years before Prohibition, and was still in business at that location as late as 1931. In 1935 a John Neidick was reported as being the proprietor, and in 1939 Mrs. Adella Oreb received a liquor license renewal. The bar did not appear in the 1940 directory. Mrs. Oreb appears in the 1940 Directory as being the operator of the bar at 2101 Broadway. This bar was known as Jules’ Grill by 1943.
The 1943 Camden City Directory reports that Joe Wisniewski was running a bar nearby, at 2277 South 7th Street, on the corner of 7th and Woodland Avenue, a few short blocks south of his previous location. As Joe’s Bar, the establishment remained in business through the early 1970s.
No sign of the old Jefferson House is visible today. The building that was Joe’s Bar has been vacant for many years, and stands empty and boarded up in 2003.
Jefferson House
Jefferson Athletic Association Grand Ball Program —
Jefferson House. J. S. Wisniewski, Saloon. Seventh and Jefferson Ave., Camden, N.J. Advertisement from the First Annual Grand Ball Program of the Jefferson Athletic Association, February 21, 1919.
Joe’s Bar — 2277 South 7th Street
Joe’s Bar at 2277 South 7th Street. August 27, 2003.