Camden People - Peter Kucharski

PETER KUCHARSKI was born in the Ukraine, then a part of the Russian Empire, around 1879. With his wife Mary he came to America in 1903, and settled in Camden's 8th Ward, which had a sizeable Ukrainian community, which soon banded together to build St. Nicholas Church at 7th and Florence Street, which was renamed St. Michaels Ukrainian Catholic Church in the 1940s. St. Michael's congregation moved to Cooper Landing Road in Cherry Hill NJ in the 1970s.

At the time of the 1930 Census he was a widower, and was living above the bar at 2001 Broadway, known in modern times as the Belleview Inn. The proprietor of the bar was Peter Koszarecki (spelled in some places as Koszaraska). Peter Kucharski was at the time of the census working as a presser in a clothing factory. He apparently became the proprietor of the tavern at 699 Central Avenue shortly after the census, and had an ongoing business relationship with Peter Koszarecki.

Peter Kucharski lived the rest of his days above the Belleview Inn. at 2001 Broadway. He passed away on November 29, 1940. After services at St. Nicholas Church he was buried at New St. Mary's Cemetery in Bellmawr NJ.

In June of 1939 the Camden Courier-Post reported that a Peter Kucharski received a liquor license renewal for the bar at 699 Central Avenue. However, it is known that several years prior to his death the Koszarecki family obtained an interest in the property, with daughter Sophie and her husband Nick Domenices-Del Grande working at the establishment. Sophie's obituary indicates that she had an ownership interest in the bar as early as 1934. As Peter Kucharski is listed as the proprietor in the 1940 Camden City Directory, this appears to be the case. The next directory was published in 1943, and shows that a Mrs. Catherine Kucharski was the proprietress of the establishment. As of this writing (November 2003) it is unclear precisely who this person was. However, given the dates of the documents and in hand and Peter Kucharski's relationship with the ownership at the nearby Belleview Inn, it is a possibility that she was a relation to the Koszarecki family.

By 1946 title to the bar had passed to Nick and Sophie Domenices-Del Grande, and this bar has been popularly known as Nick & Sophie's Tavern ever since. As Sophie Domenices was the daughter of Peter Koszarecki, Peter Kucharski's landlord, it seems to indicate that Kucharski had an interest in 699 Central Avenue in the years before his passing. Sophie's obituary indicates that she had an ownership interest in the bar as early as 1934, and this seems to confirm the theory.