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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show for those interested in the big and bizarre

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Speaker 1: moments of history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode,

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Speaker 1: we're looking at the strange series of events that gave

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Speaker 1: a crumbling piece of London history a new lease on

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Speaker 1: life in a very unexpected place. The day was October tenth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one. After three years of painstaking reconstruction, the

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Speaker 1: London Bridge was reopened in Lake Kasou City, Arizona. The

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Speaker 1: resort town's founder, Robert P. McCulloch, had purchased the British

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Speaker 1: landmark from the City of London in nineteen sixty eight.

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Speaker 1: He had the bridge disassembled, shipped halfway around the world,

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Speaker 1: and then put back together again in the middle of

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Speaker 1: the Arizona Desert. McCulloch hoped the novelty of his London

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Speaker 1: Bridge would boost tourism and help grow the sleepy town

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Speaker 1: he'd founded into the desert oasis he'd always envisioned. It

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Speaker 1: was an unconventional plan, but in the end it paid off.

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Speaker 1: In seventy Lake Kavasu City had only about four thousand

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Speaker 1: permanent residents, but once the bridge was installed, the population

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Speaker 1: grew rapidly, and today nearly sixty thousand people lived there.

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Speaker 1: Even more come to visit each year, and most of

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Speaker 1: them specifically to see the London Bridge of Arizona. In fact,

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Speaker 1: according to the city's website, the bridge is now the

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Speaker 1: state's second most popular attraction, just behind the Grand Canyon.

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Speaker 1: It's worth noting that the bridge McCulloch bought was actually

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Speaker 1: the second London Bridge. The original Stone Bridge, the one

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Speaker 1: from the Nursery Rhyme, was erected in the late twelfth

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Speaker 1: century and stood for more than six hundred years before

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Speaker 1: being replaced by the new London Bridge in eighteen thirty one. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: the second bridge didn't hold up for nearly as long

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Speaker 1: as the first. In the nineteen twenties, the weight of

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Speaker 1: modern cars and ever increasing traffic had begun to take

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Speaker 1: their toll on the Georgian era bridge. It wasn't exactly

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Speaker 1: falling down, but it was sinking into the River Thames,

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Speaker 1: so much so that by nineteen twenty four, the east

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Speaker 1: side of the London Bridge was several inches lower than

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Speaker 1: the west side. The City of London wasn't sure how

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Speaker 1: or if it could correct the problem, So for the

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Speaker 1: next four decades, the bridge just continued sinking, at a

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Speaker 1: rate of about one inch every eight years. In the end,

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Speaker 1: London officials decided it would be cheaper to build a new,

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Speaker 1: more car friendly bridge than to pay to renovate the

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Speaker 1: old one. Not long after, a city councilor named Ivan

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Speaker 1: Lukin came to his call leagues with a rather unique proposal.

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Speaker 1: Instead of just knocking down the historic crossing as they

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Speaker 1: had planned, why not try to sell it in the

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Speaker 1: United States. Regular listeners will remember that UK citizens had

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Speaker 1: feared something very similar might happen when the Stonehenge monument

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Speaker 1: was sold at auction on September twenty one, nineteen fifteen.

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Speaker 1: It was widely rumored at the time that an American

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Speaker 1: investor might buy the historic landmark and then ship it

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Speaker 1: to the States to use as a tourist attraction. That's

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Speaker 1: not how things played out, but Counselor Lukin's planned to

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Speaker 1: sell the London Bridge may have been inspired by that

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Speaker 1: earlier idea. Either way, Lukin's plan was approved, and he

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Speaker 1: crossed the Atlantic in early nineteen sixty eight to pitch

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Speaker 1: the monument to prospective buyers. A one hundred and thirty

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Speaker 1: seven year old granite Bridge turned out to be a

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Speaker 1: tough sell, but eventually Lukin did get a bite when

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Speaker 1: an eccentric industrialist named Robert McCullough caught wind of the offer.

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Speaker 1: McCulloch had already made a fortune selling oil, boat motors

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Speaker 1: and chainsaws, and in the nineteen sixties his latest venture

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Speaker 1: was city planning. He had recently purchased a twenty six

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Speaker 1: square mile parcel of land in the Arizona Desert, right

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Speaker 1: along the eastern shore of Lake Havasou. McCulloch set up

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Speaker 1: a small company town there and began testing his boat

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Speaker 1: motors in the nearby lake. His long term plan was

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Speaker 1: to grow the town into a destination resort, a kind

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Speaker 1: of desert oasis for tourists and retirees alike. When he

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Speaker 1: heard that the City of London was trying to unload

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Speaker 1: one of its most well known landmarks, he thought it

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Speaker 1: would make the perfect main attraction for his future resort.

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Speaker 1: McCulloch placed the winning bid of two point four six

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Speaker 1: million dollars on April eighteenth, nineteen sixty eight. He came

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Speaker 1: up with that figure by doubling the estimated cost of

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Speaker 1: dismantling the bridge, which was one point two million dollars.

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Speaker 1: He then added on an extra sixty thousand dollars to

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Speaker 1: sweeten the deal, a thousand bucks for each year of

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Speaker 1: his age when the bridge would be completed. Before the

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Speaker 1: sale was finalized, McCulloch had the bridge declared an antique

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Speaker 1: so that he could avoid paying taxes on it. He

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Speaker 1: may have been eccentric, but he was no fool once

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Speaker 1: the money changed hands. The first step was to label

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Speaker 1: the granite bricks that made up the London Bridge so

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Speaker 1: that the structure could be reassembled more easily. The workers

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Speaker 1: made marks to indicate the arch, span, row, number, and

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Speaker 1: position of each and every brick, all ten thousand, two

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Speaker 1: hundred and seventy six of them. Next, the bridge was

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Speaker 1: taken apart, packed into crates, and shipped nearly six thousand

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Speaker 1: miles away to California by way of the Panama Canal.

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Speaker 1: In addition to the heavy granite masonry, McCulloch also got

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Speaker 1: the bridges ornate custom lamp posts, which had been made

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Speaker 1: from melted down cannons captured from the Napoleonic Army at

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Speaker 1: the ba Uttle of Waterloo. The bridge's pieces, including The

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Speaker 1: lamp posts arrived at the port of Long Beach the

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Speaker 1: following year and were then trucked across the desert to Arizona,

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Speaker 1: where they would be reassembled and exactly the same order

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Speaker 1: they were when the bridge was first constructed. That said,

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Speaker 1: not every part of the bridge is original. To make

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Speaker 1: sure the new version could withstand the weight of modern traffic,

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Speaker 1: the construction crew first built a frame out of steel

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Speaker 1: reinforced concrete. Then they covered that hollow core with the

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Speaker 1: granite blocks from London. Not only did this help strengthen

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Speaker 1: the bridge, it also drastically reduced its weight, bringing it

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Speaker 1: down from a portly one hundred and thirty thousand tons

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Speaker 1: to a trim thirty thousand. It wound up taking a

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Speaker 1: forty man crew just under two years to reassemble the

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Speaker 1: London Bridge. The transportation and reconstruction cost McCulloch another seven

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Speaker 1: million dollars, bringing his total investment to just under ten million.

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Speaker 1: That price also included the dreading of a new waterway,

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Speaker 1: the Bridgewater Channel, so that the bridge would actually have

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Speaker 1: something to span. Workers had assembled the bridge over a

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Speaker 1: small strip of land, a peninsula that jutted out from

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Speaker 1: the mainland into Lake Havasu. Then, when the project was

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Speaker 1: nearly finished, they carved a mile long channel and allowed

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Speaker 1: it to fill with water, thereby creating an island along

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Speaker 1: the banks. McCulloch built his take on a traditional English village,

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Speaker 1: complete with a British pub and of course, a shopping complex.

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Speaker 1: To celebrate the bridge's completion, McCulloch coasted a lavish rededication

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Speaker 1: ceremony on October tenth, nine seventy one. The night before

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Speaker 1: that event, he and eight hundred guests dined to top

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Speaker 1: the bridge and what was meant to be a recreation

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Speaker 1: of the banquet held by King William the Fourth and

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Speaker 1: Queen Adelaide when the bridge was first opened in eighteen

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Speaker 1: thirty one. That evening, guests were treated to a four

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Speaker 1: course dinner that included lobster roast, beef, Cornish pasties, Cantaloni,

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Speaker 1: Florentine baby Belgian carrots, and a bridge shaped cake. Several

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Speaker 1: prominent figures had been flown in just for the occasion,

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Speaker 1: including the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Peter m Studd,

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Speaker 1: Arizona Governor Jack Williams, and for some reason, American actor

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Speaker 1: Robert Mitchum. The following day, the bridge's official opening was

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Speaker 1: a similarly extravagant affair. It included marching bands, skydivers, fireworks,

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Speaker 1: and hot air balloons. McCulloch spared no expense in trying

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Speaker 1: to lure visitors from surrounding towns and states, and his

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Speaker 1: plans seems to have worked, as the event was reportedly

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Speaker 1: attended by roughly twenty five thousand spectators. Press coverage of

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Speaker 1: the bridge was largely positive, though somewhat confused, which was

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Speaker 1: a welcome change for McCullock. Ahead of the bridge's opening,

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Speaker 1: many in the media had started referring to the project

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Speaker 1: as McCulloch's folly, believing that he and his fellow investor C. V.

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Speaker 1: Wood had made a very cost and very public mistake. However,

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Speaker 1: McCulloch's instincts were ultimately proved correct. Land sales improved in

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Speaker 1: Lake Havasu City, and within a few years McCulloch had

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Speaker 1: made back all the money he'd spent on buying, shipping,

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Speaker 1: and reassembling the bridge. He passed away just six years

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Speaker 1: after the project was completed, but by then the development

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Speaker 1: he established was well on its way to becoming the

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Speaker 1: tourist magnet he had dreamed of. Today, Lake Havasu City

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Speaker 1: is the most popular and densely populated town within a

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty miles, and the London Bridge, still standing

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Speaker 1: after nearly two hundred years on two different continents, remains

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Speaker 1: the crown jewel of the city. The time gay Bluesier

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Speaker 1: and hopefully you now know a little more about history

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Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep

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Speaker 1: up with the show, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i HC Show, and if

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Speaker 1: you have any feedback you'd like to share, feel free

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Speaker 1: to drop me a line at This Day at I

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Speaker 1: heart media dot com. Thanks, as always the Chandler Mays

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Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another Day

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Speaker 1: in History class