1872 - The era of Hugo Neuman 1882 - New groundwood and board mills 1964 - Verla dies a natural death
Hugo
Neuman founded the Verla Groundwood Mill in 1872, but it was to be
short-lived. He could not afford to enlarge it, and production came to an
end when the mill was destroyed by fire in 1876.
In 1882 Gottlieb
Kreidl and Louis Haenel, two master papermakers at Kuusankoski,
founded a new, bigger groundwood mill and with it a board mill. One of the
shareholders was a consul from Vyborg called Wilhelm Dippell.
1906 - Limited company
Wilhelm Dippell having died in 1906, Verla became a limited company called
the Verla Groundwood and Board Mill. Little changed until 1920, when the
mill was bought by Kissakoski, a wood-processing company.
1922 - Kymi
In 1922 the shares passed to Kymi (now the UPM-Kymmene Corporation). The
mill then continued to operate almost as before for another 40 years or
so, though gradually winding down. The biggest investments were a new dam
in the 1920s and a bigger hydro power plant in 1954.
Verla died a natural, painless death. When the last of the old workers
reached retiring age or moved elsewhere, the machines were switched off
and the doors closed on 18 July 1964.
