On October 10, 1971 an august group of dignitaries and celebrities gathered to celebrate the opening of London Bridge, which had just been reconstructed in the Arizona desert. Our story began when American tycoon Robert McCulloch started buying up land in the Arizona desert with the intent of founding a city. On the shores of Lake Havasu, an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River behind the Parker Dam, McCulloch established Lake Havasu City. The first inhabitants lived there and worked at McCulloch’s chainsaw factory, which he had moved to the nascent town to spur growth. His plan was to build houses and commercial buildings and then attract people to see what a fantastic town he’d built and convince them to stay.
With his massive investment’s success on the line, McCulloch sought ways to draw prospective settlers to town to see how good life there could be. He was battling against the sheer distance between Lake Havasu City and major metropolitan cities, as well as the harsh summer temperatures regularly reaching above 100 degrees. McCulloch, unafraid to make a splash, saw that the famed London Bridge, the very same one that had spanned the Thames in the center of London for over a century, was up for sale. Seizing the opportunity to make a name for his development, he put in a bid and won the auction. An American industrialist purchased a piece of English history for the bargain price of around $2.5 million.
The bridge was carefully dismantled, with the individual pieces marked for reassembly, and loaded aboard a ship for the journey to America. Given the age of the bridge itself and the practicality of the endeavor, only the facade stonework would be used in Arizona, with the structural interior pieces consisting of more modern materials. It took about three years to reconstruct London Bridge in its new home, which at the time of the construction, wasn’t even a river. Once construction was complete, a canal was created beneath the bridge that severed the land northward and made an artificial island. Not only was the bridge itself a contrived gimmick to attract attention, but it was built to span an area of land that, before this project began, was easily traversable without the aid of a million dollar construction.
McCulloch didn’t just build a bridge in the middle of the desert to sit around and look at it, so he held a grand party to celebrate its opening. The Lord Mayor of London made the trip in his ceremonial robes, and feasted on lobster and roast beef while watching skydivers and hot air balloonists showing off for the occasion. McCulloch spared no expense on the bridge or on the party, and it all paid off. That bridge literally put Lake Havasu City on the map. Sales of new homes picked up quickly after the London Bridge opened. Today, Lake Havasu City has a population of over 50,000, and the London Bridge is still a prideful point for its citizens.
