London Bridge
It came to me as a surprise that the original London Bridge isn't in
London anymore. The original London bridge was sold to Robert McCulloch
of McCulloch Oil and he rebuilt it in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. There
is a rumor that Robert McCulloch thought he was getting Tower Bridge
instead. Not surprisingly there have been several bridges on the London
Bridge site and the present one is just under 40 years old.
There are many stories associated with the London Bridge. Few people
believe that the soul of the Jack the Ripper was trapped in the
bricks of London Bridge and then transported to Arizona. If some of you
don't know who he is then, here's some introduction; Jack the Ripper, a
serial killer who was active in and around the Whitechapel district of
London in 1888. His victims were usually prostitutes operating in the
area who lived and worked in the slums of London and whose throats were
cut prior to abdominal mutilations. The removal of internal organs
from the victims led to assumptions that their killer possessed
anatomical or surgical knowledge. Jack the Ripper has inspired many work
of fictions and art.
The original London Bridge is now situated in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
The old London Bridge of nursery-rhyme fame was built by Peter of
Colechurch between 1176 and 1209, which replaced an earlier timber
bridge.
By the end of the 18th century, it was quite apparent that the old
London Bridge needed to be replaced. It was narrow and blocked river
traffic. Designed in 1799 by Scottish engineer John Rennie, the new
London Bridge was completed in 1831. After few years, the new bridge
began sinking at the rate of an inch every eight years. By 1924, the
east side of the bridge was around three to four inches lower than the
west side of the bridge as the bridge was not designed to withstand 20th
century automotive traffic.
In the year 1967, the Council of the City of London started looking for
potential buyers for the London Bridge. Lake Havasu City founder and
entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch placed the winning bid of $2,460,000 on
April 18, 1968. McCulloch came by this figure by doubling the estimated
cost of dismantling the structure, which was $1.2 million, bringing the
price to $2.4 million. He then added on $60,000 – a thousand dollars
for each year of his age at the time he estimated the bridge would be
reconstructed in Arizona. Each block was meticulously numbered before
the bridge was disassembled. The blocks were then shipped overseas
through the Panama Canal to California and trucked from Long Beach to
Arizona. Following reconstruction of the London Bridge, Lake Havasu City
rededicated it in a ceremony on October 10, 1971.
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