For over a century, before the London Bridge was purchased and relocated to Lake Havasu City, the London Bridge spanned the River Thames in England. When the 130,000 ton bridge was purchased in 1968 (including its vintage lamps made from the melted down cannons of Napoleon Bonaparte’s army) it became the world’s largest antique. Robert McCulloch, founder of the Lake Havasu City, won his bid, purchasing the bridge for $2.4 million in order to attract home buyers to his newly planned city. McCulloch and his friend, C.V. Wood (the designer of Disneyland) correctly assumed it would make the perfect addition to the city.
Prior to dismantling the iconic bridge, English workers numbered every stone so it could be easily put together in Arizona, like a stressful giant puzzle. You can still see some of these numbers today, although most have been worn away. When they assembled it, engineers left out 100,000 tons of granite and instead reinforced it with a steel framework, since one of the reasons it was sold was because it couldn’t support the increased traffic in England, and was intended to support Havasu traffic. So the London Bridge will not be succumbing to the fate of its famous song, at least not anytime soon. The large sidewalks on both sides of the bridge make for the perfect place for a morning stroll/scooter, where you can appreciate the second largest tourist attraction in Arizona. McCulloch and Woods were geniuses.
I kept singing in the head London Bridged falling down falling down. We could meet in London sometime and compare the bridges. 😊