[3] : p. 120 ff The Century of Progress exhibition was a rare example of a world's fair that not only repaid all its investors in full, but closed with a surplus.
In 1940 Major Lohr was named to succeed Rufus Dawes as president of Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
Major Lohr changed the focus of the museum away from history and developed the concept of inviting business firms to establish state-of-the art exhibits with a commercial connection included.
[7] Under his management several iconic exhibits were established including Christmas Around the World (1942), Santa Fe model railroad (1943), Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle (1949), walk-through human heart (1952) and U-505 WWII German submarine (1954).
In only five months he brought together 39 American railroads, supervised the building of five miles of both standard and narrow gauge track on nearly the same grounds as the Century of Progress 25 years earlier.
He coordinated the display and operation of a collection of modern and historic railroad and other transportation equipment including a pageant named "Wheels A Rolling" with several hundred participants.