John A. Oetzel

John A. Oetzel was born in Philadelphia in 1857 to parents who had emigrated from Eisenach, Germany, which was then part of the Duchy of Hesse and is now in the State of Thuringia. Around 1885, John and his wife Margaret moved from Philadelphia to Camden. A cabinetmaker by trade, John is listed in the Camden City Directories for 1886 and 1887-1888 as living at 120 Danehower Street. By 1889-1890, he was the proprietor of a lager beer saloon at 438 Arch Street, a prime location near the intersection of Federal and Arch Streets, and opposite the Camden Fire Department headquarters. Family stories suggest that the poet Walt Whitman was a regular customer.

John Oetzel and his family lived above the bar until 1922. They also rented rooms above the tavern, which is where his daughter Ella, born in 1880, met her husband, Charles F. Winner, a tugboat float man on the Delaware River who rented rooms during his trips. John's youngest child, John A. Jr., was born in 1903. Margaret Oetzel passed away in 1916 at the age of 59.

The 1922 Camden City Directory lists John A. Oetzel Sr. as the saloon's proprietor, with John A. Oetzel Jr. working as a bartender. The bar is not mentioned in City Directories after that year, and an aerial photo taken before July 1926 shows an empty lot where the saloon had stood for over 30 years.

John A. Oetzel Sr. moved to 438 North 8th Street in North Camden and passed away on February 12, 1941. His son had predeceased him.