Home »History» London and Arizona are linked ... through a bridge! The surprising story of the bridge that was built in England in the nineteenth century, but is now in the southwestern US
London and Arizona are linked ... through a bridge! The surprising story of the bridge that was built in England in the nineteenth century, but is now in the southwestern US
Posted on October 18, 2016 by Tomi Tohaneanu in History, Did you know that // 0 Comments
In the late 1960s, Lake Havasu City was an insignificant place in Arizona and had less than 4,000 inhabitants. In order to make the locality more attractive from the tourist point of view and to stimulate the development of the local economy, an industrialist has found an innovative solution. What he would do was not seen in the world ... Maybe there's a bigger chance for man to go back to the moon in the next decade than to repeat what's happening then. Continue Reading and Wondering!
London Bridge escaped unharmed from the German bombings of the Second World War, but with the fact that some of its pillars sank one inch every eight years, and because, despite its considerable width, the bridge no longer he faced intense car traffic, the London authorities made the decision to build another larger bridge.
It is said that the high spirits meet at some point. So strange ideas! A London municipal councilor came up with the idea that the old bridge would be sold after the demolition, while US industrialist Robert McCulloch was delighted to find out that the bridge built over the Thames in the first half of the nineteenth century was intended. He wanted to buy it.
Picture from London
The name of the London Bridge was worn by several constructions, one of which lasted almost six centuries. The granite bridge that the London municipality auctioned him in the 1960s was only 130 years old, enough to make them look interesting to the Americans. And it can not be said that he did not have a history of it. But nothing compares with what she was supposed to follow.
With or without sale, the English still had to get rid of the old bridge, an operation that would cost them $ 1.2 million. Finding this, industrialist McCulloch has borrowed over $ 2.4 million. That's how the American affluent businessman was the owner of a bridge ... demolable.
It started the hardest part. The huge construction was to be carefully disassembled and transported thousands of miles across the ocean. The workers were organized in an exemplary manner. It was not a demolition, it was a dismantling. Each granite block has been marked with a view to facilitating reassembly.
The granite blocks were placed in containers, loaded into the bulk of the freight carriages, and rebuilt the path of the European explorers of the New World centuries ago. As soon as the components of the London Bridge were brought, through the Canal of Panama, to Long Beach, California, dozens of lorries picked up and carried them instead of the new location near Lake Havasu. There was a strange symbiosis. An insignificant and numbered small town would be revitalized by a saved bridge at the last moment of the mourning.
London Bridge - Lake Havasu City
In order to be sure that the bridge will be resilient, functional, first and foremost a concrete strength structure was poured, which then was dressed with the granite blocks made from taman in London. Parts that would amount to ten thousand tons! After three years of work and a $ 7 million expense, Lake Havasu City chose to ... London Bridge, which crosses a specially built canal.
In October 1971, the London Bridge in Arizona was inaugurated. The moment was marked by a fabulous ceremony. McCulloch puts on impressive sums of money, so the inauguration show did not miss hot air balloons, planes, paratroopers, fireworks, and celebrities.
The bad words were saying the American rich man was tricked at the end of the contract, telling him he was going to buy a well-known London bridge, Tower Bridge. The untrue thing, the American always knew what the money was. Moreover, his strategy has been fruitful, meaning a successful promotion of the city!
London Bridge - Lake Havasu City
Tourism has grown and, with it, the city's population and prosperity have increased. In 1974, the "emigrant" bridge attracted 2,000,000 visitors. Lake Havasu City, a community that started from scratch in the twentieth century, now has over 50,000 inhabitants, tourism goes smoothly, and London Bridge is living its second life in the New World.
This is the story of the only bridge in the world that crossed the ocean, from the UK to the US!
