South end of London Bridge Cut Benchmark -- Lake Havasu City AZ
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Benchmark Blasterz
N 34° 28.248 W 114° 20.928
11S E 743505 N 3817549
A cut bench mark on the south end of the 1831 London Bridge, which was sold to the American developer of Lake Havasu City AZ in 1968, moved across the world, and reassembled in the desert.
Waymark Code: WMMDJ0
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2014
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Dragontree
Views: 18

The waymark is a cut benchmark at the southern end of London Bridge as it now sits in Lake Havasu City Arizona.

Today the cut benchmark without a rivet is located just to the left under the bridge name plaque on the south end of the bridge.

The public can have free access to this cut benchmark from the pedestrian walking area across the bridge. Free parking is found nearby at the restaurant development at the south end of the bridge.

The story of how this bridge made its way from London to Arizona is found here: (visit link)

"How the London Bridge Ended Up in Arizona
A town of 52,000 people has called the famous bridge its own since 1971.
by Mark Byrnes

In 1962, the London Bridge (131-years-old at the time) was discovered to be sinking into the Thames, unable to handle 21st century traffic demands. By 1971, it was reborn in a new planned community of 8,000 people ... in Arizona.

Robert McCulloch, founder of the Lake Havasu City, won the old bridge with a $2,460,000 bid at the City of London's auction in 1968. McCulloch then spent another $7 million to have it moved to the community he established in 1964.

The bridge's exterior granite blocks were numbered and transported by ship, then rebuilt over a reinforced concrete structure built on land in-between the main part of the city and Pittsburgh Point, a peninsula connected to Lake Havasu. After the bridge was reconstructed, the Bridgewater Channel Canal was dredged under the bridge and flooded.

It was officially dedicated at a ceremony on October 10, 1971. A Los Angeles Times report at the time called it "a bizarre ceremony combining hoary English pomp and Arizona informality." McCulloch, Sir Peter M. Studd, lord mayor of London, "other London officials, their ladies and 17th century pikemen" were in attendance, along with 25,000 spectators.

McCulloch, who died six years later, hoped the bridge would turn Lake Havasu City into a tourist magnet, anchoring a complex filled with shops, restaurants and hotels. While the "English Village" built next to the bridge often leaves visitors disappointed, the town continues to grow, its population now at 52,000 and the bridge still its main attraction."

Blasterz heard from a Chamber of Commerce lady at the "Little London" English village that the London Bridge is Arizona's second most-popular tourist attraction after the Grand Canyon!
Type of Trigpoint: Cut Bench Mark

Condition: Good

Number on Flush Bracket: n/a

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