The Original London Bridge is In Arizona?

Originally constructed in 1830, the London Bridge was sinking into the River Thames by the late 1960s. After over a century of use, it was time to rebuild. But where did the bridge go after it was dismantled? The answer is simple, Lake Havasu, Arizona!.

Surveying at Lake Havasu before the reconstruction of the London Bridge. / Central Press, Getty Images

Lake Havasu

Lake Havasu in the late 1960s was more of a dream than a city. Entrepreneur Robert McCulloch was in the process of turning this desert development into a town, but he felt the town still needed something to draw people in.

At the same time, London was preparing to replace its aging 1831 bridge, which had begun to sink due to age and modern traffic. In 1968, the London Bridge was put up for auction, and McCulloch bought it for 2.4 million dollars.

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Original London Bridge before transportation. / Peter Trulock, Getty Images

30,000 tons of stone

Getting the bridge across the ocean and to Arizona was not an easy task. The total weight of the bridge when it was shipped was 30,000 tons. Upon the dismantling of the bridge, each piece was labeled and carefully packaged brick by brick.

The bricks were then transported through the Panama Canal on a boat, and then transferred to trucks to be driven from Long Beach, California, to Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Engineers decided the bridge needed some help to ensure it could support modern traffic, so a hollow steel-reinforced core was constructed. Then 10,000 tons of the original granite were placed on top. Finally, in 1971, the bridge was ready to be shown to the public.

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Robert McCulloch in front of the London Bridge. / Jim Gray, Getty Images

Impact on Lake Havasu.

Many news reporters thought that the 7 million dollars McCulloch spent on bringing this bridge over and reconstructing it was insane, causing many to call it "McCulloch’s Folly". However, McCulloch and his team had the last laugh.

Lake Havasu, before the construction of the bridge, had a population of only a few hundred. By 1974, the population had shot up to over 10,000. In 1975, the Lake Havasu Chamber of Commerce reported the bridge had attracted over 2 million visitors that year.

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Robert McCulloh, standing as the bridge is dismantled, waits for it to be transported. / Jim Gray, Getty Images

Today, you can visit the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, Arizona. While it isn't the most impressive bridge from London, the story of how it got to Arizona is. The bridge had survived both World Wars, the London Blitz, and a trip across the Atlantic. Every year, thousands of visitors come to Lake Havasu to see the bridge, a reminder that sometimes even the craziest ideas can reshape a community.

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