The Chestnut Bar traces it beginnings to Gustav Schwoeri Sr., who 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. 703-705 Chestnut Street appears to have been rebuilt in 1898. Gustav Schwoeri Sr. was also involved in the first brewery to operate in Camden. When Prohibition went into effect, the business went to bottling low alcohol content beer and soft drinks. Gustav Schwoeri Sr. 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The Schwoeri family remained in business, and after Prohibition was repealed, the family opened a liquor store at 700 Chestnut Street, while operating the saloon at 705 Chestnut Street, which was known as The Original Schwoeri’s. Mary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 liquor store is still open, under different ownership, in 2008. 

703-705 Chestnut Street was sold to to Richard D. Grayson, who operated under the name of the Seven-O-Five Bar as late as 1966. 

In 1967 Richard and Elnora Grayson of 603 Chestnut Street and Helen Grayson of 623 Chestnut Street applied for the liquor license to be renewed under the business name of The Chestnut Bar. 

The Grayson family renamed the business in late 1966 or early 1967, and operated as The Chestnut Bar 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 705 Bar and after 1966 as the Chestnut Bar. A bar opened some time after 1977 at 707 Chestnut Street. Known as Deggy's and The Hole In The Wall, it remained open into the mid-1994.