In April 1990, the Heijplaat district council commissioned Rotterdam sculptor Marc Legersté to create a monument for the district. The statue was a gift from the district council on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the garden village Heijplaat. The name Heijplaat refers to the nearby, and now disappeared, hamlet De Heij. Heijplaat originated as a residential area for workers of the then Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM). Construction of the garden village began in 1914 and was completed in the mid-1920s, when Heijplaat formed a community with its own schools, shops, a party hall and churches. Visual artist Marc Legersté found this steel construction on an industrial estate and turned it into this metre-high monument. In September 1990, the 75th anniversary was celebrated and the monument unveiled.
