CAMDEN PEOPLE - Ludwig Buch

LUDWIG BUCH was born in Germany on February 7, 1864. He first came to the United States in 1887. He appears to have returned to Germany in the 1890s, marrying his wife Anna around 1893. A daughter, Martha came in May of 1895. Both Anna and Margaret came to the United States in 1896. Daughter Marie was born in Pennsylvania in November of 1897. By 1900 the family had moved to Camden, New Jersey. At the time of the 1900 Census Ludwig Buch and family were living at 2142 Broadway, the northeast corner corner of Broadway and Chelton Avenue, where he operated a saloon. Sons, Ludwig Jr. (who appears in the census as Louis), was born on June 20, and Carl and Joseph came soon after, Joseph arriving in 1905.

When the Census was taken in 1910, Ludwig Buch and family resided at 817 Broadway, where he engaged in the "wholesale liquor" business, that is to say, he owned a bar. Sometime during the 1910s, he acquired a saloon at the corner of South 5th and Mickle Streets, the address of which is sometimes given as 202 South 5th Street. Sadly, Anna Buch died in 1918. She was buried at Calvary Cemetery.

At the time of the 1920 census he was a widower. His sons Louis, Carl, and Harry were at home, as well as an adult daughter, Marie McAdams and her husband Harry. He remarried in 1920, after the census was taken. His wife Margaret Buch, was well known in the neighborhood for her fine German cooking. She passed away in January of 1938, and was buried in the Buch family plot at Calvary Cemetery. Ludwig Buch was still operating the bar at that time. Ludwig Buch appears to have retired from his bar business soon afterwards. He passed away on July 26, 1951, and was buried between his first and second wives. Son Joseph, who passed in 1974, also rests there. Ludwig Buch Jr. was last a resident of Gloucester City. He died in December of 1981. Son Carl, last a resident of Collingswood NJ, passed on March 2, 1993.

As for Ludwig Buch's business, The 1940 Camden City Directory indicates that Elmer W. Orcutt was the proprietor of the bar at 202 South 5th Street. After World War II, the first published City Directory, that of 1947, shows the bar as Creato's Cafe, run by James and Caroline Creato of Collingswood NJ.

The New Jersey Bell Telephone Directories for 1956 and 1959 list the bar as Ray's Tavern. The bar appears to have changed hands again shortly afterward, as an advertisement in the 1959 banquet program for Veteran's Boxing Association Ring No. 6 states that "Ray and Frances" were then at My Friend's Bar on Mount Ephraim Avenue.

The bar is not listed in the 1966 New Jersey Bell Telephone Yellow Pages. A 1977 entry shows Roy's Cafe, and in 1982 the bar was known as the Traveler's Home Port. Another management change around 1991 resulted in the bar being renamed the C'est La Vie Lounge. A series of incidents which attracted the attention of the police and Alcoholic Beverage Commission authorities resulted in the bar being closed in the early 1990s. 202 South 5th Street was razed in the late 1990s.