Unfamiliar Plaque G.Ph. Verhagen

In a small park on the 1e Jerichostraat and the Mecklenburglaan there is a brick wall with a bronze plaque attached to it. The year and maker of the memorial plaque are unknown. In the bronze is a portrait in relief with the name G.Ph. Verhagen (1878-1961). Below the portrait is written: Kralings entrepreneur, owner of the 'VIR', founder of the G.Ph. Verhagen Foundation. Goris Philippus Verhagen was the owner of the Vereenigde Industrieën Rotterdam (VIR), a company that started as a small stocking factory and around 1908 also specialized in the manufacture of mantles for gas lighting. This later resulted in the production of metal wires, light bulbs and lighting elements. The textile arm of the company mainly marketed knitwear (machine-made knitted goods). In the period 1966-1970, the light bulb factory was sold to Philips and the textile factory closed its doors. Now a supermarket can be found at the place where both business activities took place on the Oudedijk in Kralingen. The VIR was disbanded in 1996. The assets then passed directly into the hands of G.Ph. Verhagen Foundation, which Verhagen had founded in 1950. The G. Ph. The Verhagen Foundation aims to strengthen the social diversity and cultural richness of the city of Rotterdam. It does this by making funds available for events, activities, investments and purchases that promote this objective. Source: City Archives Rotterdam.