In 1967 American entrepreneur and land developer Robert McCulloch proposed purchasing the 136 year old London Bridge on the River Thames from the city of London as a publicity stunt. His goal was to attract potential land buyers to this remote region that today has a population of 50,000 residents and a wide range of recreational water activities. Many people thought McCulloch was a bit of an oddball to spend almost $10 million to purchase and reconstruct the historical bridge10,000 miles away from its original construction site, but his hunch paid off. The London Bridge is the second largest tourist attraction in Arizona, after the Grand Canyon, and not too far from Route 66.
Robert McCulloch
The episode features a talk with both McCulloch's grandson and a leading Lake Havasu tour guide, providing insight into the wisdom of McCulloch who earned an Engineering degree from Princeton University and was a millionaire by the age of 30. While the Lake Havasu London Bridge stood over the River Thames for 130 years, earlier versions of the bridge date back to Roman times and one iteration housed several hundred residents and featured a display of beheaded criminals to at the tollgates.