In 1865, a group of women from Grace Episcopal and Christ Episcopal Churches in Newark , known as The Ladies Society of Saint Barnabas established Saint Barnabas Hospital (now Saint Barnabas Medical Center) in a private Newark home. When Eliza Titus , who was the first patient, left her small estate to the fledgling hospital they established their first hospital building on McWhorter Street in the Ironbound. On February 18,1867, Saint Barnabas became the first incorporated hospital by an act of the New Jersey legislature. Needing more space the hospital moved to High Street in 1869.

When the cornerstone for the High Street Hospital was laid on Saint Barnabas Day, June 11,1869 the Rector of Saint Barnabas Church , Reverend McCurdy and John Suydam a Warden of the church were elected to the Board of Managers of the Saint Barnabas Hospital Association. However, Saint Barnabas Church, which was located in the Roseville section, was not involved in the founding of the hospital.

In 1894, the Saint Barnabas School of Nursing was founded. On March 25, 1897 the school graduated the first class of nine nurses.

Saint Barnabas stayed on High Street almost 100 years . On November 29,1964 Saint Barnabas Hospital relocated to Livingston where it remains to this day. The site of the Newark hospital was deeded to the Newark Housing Authority.

The beautiful nurses pin, shown below, was presented in 1928 to a person with the initials E.I.C. . Now , almost 100 years later , the pin has survived in near mint condition. The previous owner/owners clearly cared about it a good deal.