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The Rohr Aircraft Corporation had a profound impact on the history of Chula Vista and the aircraft industry. The Chula Vista Heritage Museum, inside the Civic Center Library, 365 F Street, is focusing its 2017 exhibit on the history of the corporation. The museum is open during library hours, seven days a week and is free of charge.

Local historian Dr. Steven Schoenherr, president of both the Friends of the Library Museum Board and the South Bay Historical Society, was instrumental in researching the new exhibit. On display are multiple photographs, materials from the Rohr Corporation, anecdotes from its retired employees, items from the Library's local history collection, as well as memorabilia from the Rohr family. The exhibit includes a new feature whereby museum attendees can use their smart phones to scan a QR code in a display case and link to a web page with more information about the display.

Launched by Frederick Rohr, the company was the world's largest producer of engine power packages from World War II to the 1990s. Rohr pioneered the concept of a "feeder" subcontractor supplying vital airplane components to the factory where the plane was assembled. He developed new tools such as the drop hammer, and new materials, with honeycombed titanium among them. A major employer in Chula Vista from the 1940s to the 1990s, Rohr employed up to 10,000 workers in its 67 buildings on 162 acres along the Chula Vista bay front from G Street to J Street. The influence of the Rohr weekly payroll was dramatically demonstrated in 1954 when Fred Rohr paid his workers in silver dollars, flooding the community with bags of coins.

The Rohr museum exhibit follows the inaugural 2016 exhibit on the Great Flood of 1916. The museum is supported by the Heritage Museum Board, a chapter of the Friends of the Chula Vista Library. The Heritage Museum relocated in early 2016 from its site on Third Avenue to a space in the northwest area of the Civic Center Library, thanks to funding from City of Chula Vista and the Chula Vista Library Foundation. The Rohr exhibit is funded by the Local Heritage Museum Chapter of the Friends of the Chula Vista Library and a Community Enhancement Program Grant, via County Supervisor Greg Cox, from the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.




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