The
1831 London Bridge was the last project of engineer
John Rennie, and was completed by
his son, John Rennie. 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.
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 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. 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 and purchased it for £1.02 million ($2.46 million at that time). but the allegation was vehemently denied by both McCulloch and Ivan Luckin, who arranged the bridge's sale. 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 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
UK to the
US. Plumer negotiated to pay for all the voyage's operating costs, in return for carrying the bridge stones as cargo to the US, 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.
Reconstruction in Lake Havasu On September 23, 1968, the bridge's foundation stone was re-laid at the reconstruction site in Arizona by
Sir Gilbert Inglefield,
Lord Mayor of London. The bridge was not rebuilt over a river, but was put up on land between the main part of the city and Pittsburgh Point, which at that time was a peninsula jutting into
Lake Havasu. Once completed, a construction company dredged the Bridgewater Channel Canal under the bridge, across the neck of the Pittsburgh Point peninsula. The canal separating it from the city made Pittsburgh Point an island. As a result, the bridge now traverses a navigable shortcut between the Thompson Bay in Lake Havasu, south of Pittsburgh Point, and the northern part of Lake Havasu.
Use as a tourist attraction After the bridge was reconstructed, prospective buyers of land were attracted to visit the bridge and take a tour of properties for sale. Land sales improved, and McCulloch recouped all his expenses on the purchase and shipping of the bridge. Since he had obtained the land at no cost, the sale of the properties paid for the bridge and more. Recent years have seen much development in the area of the bridge to increase tourist interest. The original "English Village" was an open-air mall with a hedge maze and historical museum built in faux-English style. It deteriorated over time and sections of the mall were leveled. The Lake Havasu City Convention & Visitors Bureau has undertaken a revitalization of the English Village, with conversion of the mall to
condos proposed in 2011 by Virtual Realty Enterprises, its current owner. On June 16, 2014,
The Sun published a false story claiming the bridge was being torn down to build an attraction for selling marijuana and drug paraphernalia to tourists.
Doug Traub, President & CEO of the Lake Havasu City Convention & Visitors Bureau (now Go Lake Havasu) responded by demanding a retraction. The conflict was picked up by publications around the globe. After two weeks, the British
tabloid removed the story from circulation and printed a correction. ==In popular culture==