Clara Maass was a brave nurse who gave her life in an experiment to find the cause of
and a cure for the deadly yellow fever disease. A Newark hospital adopted her name
before moving in 1958 to its present location in Belleville. Clara Maass Hospital began
in 1868 under the name of the Newark German Hospital. It became Newark Memorial
Hospital in 1919 (when "German" became unpopular in the United States as a result of
World War I) and then Lutheran Memorial Hospital in 1946.

Clara Maass, born in East Orange, New Jersey, became a nurse in 1895. She
volunteered for the yellow fever experiments being conducted in Cuba. She died just
ten days after having been bitten by a fever-carrying mosquito - on August 24,
1901. Her bravery was recognized by the nation of Cuba when it issued a postage
stamp in her honor in 1951. Her picture also appeared on a U.S. postage stamp in
1976, seventy-five years after her death.

Clara Maass Memorial Hospital sits atop what was once called "Nanny Goat Hill"
overlooking Branch Brook Park.

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