October 10

In 1968 Robert McCullough, founder of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, bought the London Bridge. It would be more accurate to say that he bought a bridge that happened to be in London, England. It was not the structure that is generally featured in brochures and post cards, that one is named Tower Bridge, but one that was located conveniently nearby. This bridge had been built in 1831 but by the late 1960s, it was no longer capable of handling the flow of traffic that crossed over it. McCullough had the bridge dismantled, carefully numbering each piece as it came down; he then had all this stuff shipped to Lake Havasu to be the centerpiece of a development he was building. An artificial lake was built and the bridge reassembled. On October 10, 1971, the mandatory ribbon cutting ceremony was held and the London Bridge Resort and Convention Center was officially opened to the public.

In the early 19th century, engineer John Rennie had begun construction of London Bridge. When he died in 1821, his son, who was also named John Rennie, completed the construction. The younger Rennie, was also involved in the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which was the first inter-city railway line (see September 2007 issue of the Review)