Lake Havasu and the London Bridge

We arrived in Lake Havasu about noon today. As opposed to what we have been accustomed to it is hot here. Although we saw temps in the high 70's/low 80's in the California desert and in Las Vegas it was 89 here today and is expected to be 90 tomorrow. Due to this we limited our exploring today but did get down to the London Bridge. An English bridge sitting in the middle of the Arizona desert? Really an unusual sight.

The London Bridge, currently located in Lake Havasu, was originally constructed in London, in 1831. The bridge was the last project of engineer John Rennie and completed by his son, also named John Rennie. By 1962, the bridge was not structurally sound enough to support the increased load created by the level of modern traffic crossing it, and it was sold by the City of London.

The purchaser, Robert McCulloch, was the founder of Lake Havasu and the chairman of McCulloch Chain Saw Corporation. McCulloch was purported to have purchased the bridge to serve as a tourist attraction to his retirement real estate development at Lake Havasu City, which at that time was far off the usual tourist track. The idea was successful, bringing interested tourists and retirement home buyers to the area.

Originally an "English Village", a quaint English-style open air mall with hedge maze and historical museum was built by the bridge. Over the years this has been replaced with the normal tourist shops you find in the Southwest United States. They do still have some English style things including an English phone booth and a large fountain as you enter the lower bridge area. Due to the heat we did not spend very long at the bridge today. We will go back tomorrow to take a boat tour of the lake area.