The town is a popular retirement/snowbirds' (winter visitors') community and, at the same time, an adult & family playground in summer, thanks to the lake (boating and watersports in general) and the rough backcountry (ATVs are big here!). The lake - a reservoir of the Colorado River - with its promenade, parks, beaches and miniature lighthouses appears very clean and manicured, lots of elderly people with dogs around at this time of the year.
The town got on the map when Robert McCulloch, an entrepreneur and real estate developer, bought the London Bridge (1831) in 1968, which originally spanned the river Thames in London. The bridge (photo above) was dismantled stone by stone and brought over by cargo ship, first to Long Beach/CA and from there overland to Lake Havasu City. There it was completed in 1971 (together with a canal), and links an island in the river with the main part of town. The bridge was supposed to attract tourists and retirement home buyers – and it apparently did!
We enjoyed Happy Hour at College Street Brewhouse in the evening and
explored the lake on the next morning. Wish we would have had an
opportunity to go on a boattrip along the river, but we headed on to
Arizona.
| Designer | John Rennie |
|---|---|
| Construction start | 1825 1967 (rebuild) |
| Construction end | 1831 1971 (rebuild) |
| Opened | August 1, 1831 (London) October 10, 1971 (Lake Havasu) |
| Statistics | |
| Toll | None |
| Location | |
 | |
London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. When it was built in the 1830s, it spanned the River Thames in London, England. In 1968, the bridge was purchased from the City of London by Robert P. McCulloch. McCulloch had exterior granite blocks from the original bridge cut and transported to the United States for use in the construction of a new bridge in Lake Havasu City, a planned community he established in 1964 on the shore of Lake Havasu. The Arizona bridge is a reinforced concrete structure clad in the original masonry of the 1830s bridge. The bridge was completed in 1971 (along with a canal), and links an island in the Colorado River with the main part of Lake Havasu City. The "rededication" of the London Bridge took place on October 10, 1971.[3]
History
The 1831 London Bridge was the last project of engineer John Rennie and completed by his son, John Rennie.[4] By 1962, it was not sturdy enough to carry the increased load of traffic; the bridge was sold by the City of London in April 1968 to make way for its replacement.[5]
The purchaser, Robert P. McCulloch, was an entrepreneur and real estate developer who founded Lake Havasu City. He installed the bridge to attract tourists and retirement home buyers to his properties there.[5]
Purchase and transfer to Arizona
The community first started as an Army Air Corps rest camp, called "Site Six" during World War II on the shores of Lake Havasu. In 1958 McCulloch purchased 3,353 acres (13.57 km2) of property on the east side of the lake along Pittsburgh Point, the peninsula, intending to develop the land. But the real estate agents could not bring in prospective buyers, because the land was far from centers of population and had a very hot, arid climate.[6] McCulloch's real estate agent, Robert Plumer, learned that London Bridge was for sale and convinced McCulloch to buy it and bring it to the area to attract potential land buyers. The initial response from McCulloch was, "That's the craziest idea I have ever heard," but after consideration, he decided to go ahead[7] and purchased it for £1.02 million ($2.46 million at that time).[8]
There is a popular rumor that the bridge was bought in the mistaken belief that it was London's more recognizable Tower Bridge,[9][10][11] but the allegation was vehemently denied by both McCulloch and Ivan Luckin, who arranged the bridge's sale.[8]
The bridge's facing stones were removed, with each numbered and its position catalogued. After the bridge was dismantled, the stones were transported to a quarry in Merrivale, Devon, where 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches) were sliced off many of the original stones.
Plumer arranged with a cargo shipping company that was going to sail a newly built ship, without any cargo, from the U.K. to the U.S. Plumer negotiated to pay for all the voyage's operating costs, in return for carrying the bridge stones as cargo to the U.S., which was far less than the going rate shipping costs.
The new ship transported the bridge in pieces through the Panama Canal and unloaded it at the Port of Long Beach, California. From there, the bridge was transported overland to Lake Havasu City, where re-assembly began in 1968.[12]
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