Contrary to folklore, businessman Robert McCullogh did NOT mistakenly think he was buying London's Tower Bridge when he bought London Bridge. :)
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! It is built of Dartmoor Granite in a simple classic multiple-arch design by 17th-century British engineer John Rennie.
The public can walk or drive across the bridge. Free parking is available nearby at the Little London English Village shops.
The story of how this bridge made its way from London to Arizona (and some details of the reopening) can be 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."