Oswaldo Cruz is a neighborhood of the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, of middle-class and lower middle-class situated near the neighborhoods of Madureira (east), Bento Ribeiro (west), Vila Valqueire (south), and Turiaçu (north).

Cut by the railway, Oswaldo Cruz is a typically residential neighborhood, with approximately 40.000 residents.

In the end of the 19th century and beginning of 20th century, the economy of the region, supported by slavery, enters crisis and the old latifundiums start to be divided by the poor population, mainly by people escaping the urban reforms realized in the center of the city.

In 1890, the Dona Clara Station of trains was inaugurated, that gave name to the area of limits still not defined, that then was confused with Madureira.

In 1917, with the death of the doctor and sanitary engineer Oswaldo Cruz, the local station is renamed and with along the time this name ends being attributed to the neighborhood.