Regl Family Memory of Arlington Street

The following recollection of the Regl family's life at 2054 Arlington Street was submitted by John Regl in February 2005.

My family's history on Arlington Street spans nearly 50 years.

My great-grandfather, Stephen Regl, was a master machinist who emigrated from Hungary in 1906 and settled in Camden. He went to work for New York Shipbuilding in 1906. Having established himself here, he sent for his wife, Gisela, and their two infant daughters, Rose and Helen, in 1907. By 1910, my great-grandparents had two more children—my grandfather, Stephen Regl Jr. and his younger brother Julius "Lou" Regl—and had bought their one and only home: 2054 Arlington Street.

In 1929, Stephen Jr. brought my grandmother, Grace, to Arlington Street. They raised their two boys in that house—my uncle, Stephen Regl III (1930), and my dad, Robert Regl, who was born in that house in 1934.

In the mid-1940's, my grandparents bought the house from my great-grandfather (who continued to live there). Stephen Regl retired from the shipyard around 1950. By 1957 my uncle had married and bought a house of his own and my dad was at Drexel completing the first of three engineering degrees. In 1958, my grandparents bought a home in Bellmawr. My great-grandfather went to live with his daughter Rose in Mount Ephraim. The Regl's stewardship of 2054 Arlington Street had reached its end.

When I was a boy, my dad drove me through the "old neighborhood" from time to time. But the true joy was the tales of his childhood on Arlington Street: his friends Jack Hartner and Richie DeClemente; the Camden Brewery and "Old Frothingslosh—the pale, stale ale with the head on the bottom"; Camden High; the shipyard; "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers.

Although 2054 was right across the street from the Rosemont Cafe, I only heard that name once or twice. On Arlington Street, 2051 was simply and lovingly known as "Stell's." My dad, my uncle and my grandfather each had fifty stories about something that had happened at "Stell's."

My last trip to Arlington Street was in 1982.

—John Regl, February 2005