Sometimes when people suddenly experience a financial windfall, they immediately rest on their laurels and move into early retirement. Robert McCulloch (1911–1977) was not one of those people.
McCulloch’s grandfather, John Irvin Beggs, had made his fortune through various means, one being implementing Thomas Edison’s electric power stations around the globe. When he died in 1925, his fortune went to his descendants.
Engines, Large and Small
When America became involved in World War II, McCulloch obtained government contracts to build engines for the U.S. Army Air Corps. His company, which would launch a new arm called McCulloch Aircraft Corporation, built small two-cylinder drone engines. An interesting note: One of the companies that used the engines was Radioplane, founded by actor and inventor Reginald Denny. As part of Radioplane’s marketing scheme (or more appropriately the U.S. Army’s marketing scheme), they used a beautiful young lady to pose with the prop and engine. Her name was Norma Jeane Dougherty at the time. She would later change her name to Marilyn Monroe.Immediately after the war, McCulloch changed his company’s name to McCulloch Motors Corporation. The business continued to experience success, but it was not the automobile or aircraft engines that established the name. It was a much smaller engine. The development of the two-man chainsaw (5-49) paved the way for innovation within the forestry industry.
A few years after producing the 5-49 chainsaw, McCulloch forever changed the industry by developing the lightweight one-man chainsaw, the 3-25. The name of McCulloch would become (and has remained) synonymous with chainsaws, and would, by 1968, produce the Power Mac 6, which was the world’s lightest chainsaw. Interestingly, 1968 was the year McCulloch would reach the height of his notoriety―but it had nothing to do with engines.
Building Paradise
About a decade prior, McCulloch founded McCulloch Properties. His vision behind the company was not so much about building neighborhoods, but rather cities. In 1958, McCulloch set his sights on the Sonoran Desert, specifically in western Arizona. He purchased 3,500 acres along the man-made Lake Havasu, which was created by damming the Colorado River. Four years later, he purchased another 13,000 acres. His goal was to build a desert paradise. On Sept. 30, 1963, Lake Havasu City was established by a county resolution. McCulloch hired Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood Jr., who had been the chief designer of Disneyland, to design the community.
Purchasing a Piece of British History
“London Bridge is not just a bridge,” Luckin said during a press conference in New York. “It is the heir to 2,000 years of history going back to the first century A.D., to the time of the Roman Londinium.”When McCulloch and Wood heard about the bridge, they were instantly intrigued. No matter that Lake Havasu City had no need for a bridge.
McCulloch was informed that merely dismantling the bridge would cost approximately $1.2 million. The shipping cost would be another $240,000. In April of 1968, McCulloch struck an odd deal with the owners who were already eager to get rid of the 1,000-foot bridge. He decided to pay twice the dismantling cost and an additional $60,000 ($1,000 for each year old he would be by the time the bridge opened in his new city).
Shipping and Rebuilding London Bridge
The bridge was meticulously dismantled with each brick marked in order to be reconstructed just as it had been. Altogether, 10,000 tons (which included 10,276 granite blocks and the lamp posts that were made from Napoleon’s melted down cannons captured by the British after the Battle of Waterloo) were shipped across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, and north to the Port of Los Angeles.The entire bridge finally made it to U.S. Customs on July 4, 1968. Typically, U.S. Customs charges a duty, but this foreign import was exempt. Due to it being more than 100 years old, it was deemed an “antique,” therefore exempt from tariff or duty. The purchase was actually included in the “Guinness Book of World Records” as the largest antique ever sold.
A Grand Opening
When Lake Havasu City hosted the bridge’s dedication ceremony on Oct. 10, it was met with great enthusiasm. Approximately 50,000 people attended, including London’s Lord Mayor, actor Robert Mitchum, and comedian Dan Rowan. Part of the festivities included skydivers, fireworks, marching bands, hot air balloons, along with a dinner of roast beef and lobster, reminiscent of the dinner served to King William IV during the 1831 unveiling of the original bridge.The bridge proved to be just what the city needed. In 1974, approximately 2 million tourists came to visit the bridge. The city grew exponentially over several years, and currently has a population nearing 60,000. The bridge remains the city’s biggest attraction.
McCulloch accomplished and invented many things in his lifetime, from engines to cities. He even invented a steam engine car (though its development eventually proved cost-prohibitive) and a flying car (of which only 100 were made due to lack of demand). But it was McCulloch’s great gamble (some had called it “McCulloch’s Folly”) of building Lake Havasu City and purchasing and importing London Bridge that proved to be his biggest payoff and most lasting legacy.
