Robert P. McCulloch

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For other uses, see Robert McCulloch (disambiguation).

Robert Paxton McCulloch (1911-1977) was an American entrepeneur most notable for purchasing the original London Bridge and moving it to the city he founded, Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

[edit] Biography

Robert Paxton McCulloch was born May 11, 1911. His maternal grandfather, John I. Beggs, made his fortune by investing in Thomas Edison’s inventions, and founded Milwaukee’s public utility system. McCulloch, along with his two siblings, inherited his Grandfather’s fortune in 1925. Pursuing engineering, he attended Princeton University in 1928, but transferred to Stanford, in California, a year later.

Two years after he graduated, he married Barbra Ann Briggs, whose father was Stephen Foster Briggs of Briggs and Stratton. His first manufacturing endeavor was McCulloch Engineering Company, located in Milwaukee Wisconsin. There he built racing engines and superchargers. In his early 30’s he sold the company to Borg-Warner Corporation for 1 million dollars.^{[citation needed]}

McCulloch then started McCulloch Aviation, which he moved to California within three years. In 1946 he changed his company’s name to McCulloch Motors. Building small gasoline engines, his competitors included his in-laws and Ralph Evinrude. Evinrude led the market for boat motors, while Briggs and Stratton pulled ahead in the lawn mower and garden tractor market.

It was the chainsaw niche that McCulloch dominated, beginning with the first chainsaw with his name on it, manufactured in 1948. By the next year, McCulloch’s 3-25 further revolutionized the market, with the one man, light weight chainsaw.

1950’s McColloch started McCulloch Oil Corporation. C.V. Wood, who had been involved with the planning of the original Disneyland and the first Six Flags park in Arlington, Texas, became the president of McCulloch Oil. McCulloch Oil pursued oil and gas exploration, land development and geothermal energy.

In spite of Evinrude’s market lead, McCulloch continued to pursue McCulloch Motor’s quest for the outboard market during the next decade. This led him to Lake Havasu, in that search for a test site. McCulloch purchased 3,500 acres of lakeside property along Pittsburgh Point. In 1963, on the courthouse steps of Kingman, Arizona, McCulloch purchased a 26 square mile parcel of barren desert, that would become the site for Lake Havasu City. At the time it was the largest single tract of state land ever sold in Arizona^{[citation needed]}, and the cost per acre was under $75.

To spur the growth of the infant city, in 1964 McCulloch opened a chainsaw manufacturing plant in the new community. Within two years there were three manufacturing plants, with some 400 employees.

[edit] Purchase of the London Bridge

In 1968, McCulloch was searching for a unique attraction for his city, which eventually took him to London. By the early 1960’s it was apparent that the London Bridge was gradually sinking into the River Thames. It was decided that a new bridge would need to be built. Rather than razing the existing bridge, it was decided to put the historical landmark on the auction block.

When casting his bid for the London Bridge, McCulloch doubled the estimated cost of dismantling the structure, which was 1.2 million dollars, bringing the price to 2,400,000. He then added on $60,000, a thousand dollars for each year of his age at the time he estimated the bridge would be raised in Arizona.^{[citation needed]} His gesture earned him the winning bid.

It took three years to complete the project. The structure was dismantled brick by brick, with each section marked and numbered, in much the same way the bridge was originally built. The granite pieces were stacked at the Surrey Commercial Docks, and then were shipped through the Panama Canal, to Long Beach California. From Long Beach the granite blocks were trucked inland 300 miles.

The London Bridge was officially opened on October 10, 1971, with a gala celebration. Opening day included an elaborate fanfare; fireworks, a parade, entertainment, and celebrities, such as Bonanza's Loran Greene, and dignitaries such as the Lord Mayor of London.

With the purchase of the London Bridge, McCulloch accelerated his development campaign, increasing the amounts of flights into the city. At the time, the airport was located on the island. The free flights to Lake Havasu lasted until 1978, and reportedly they totaled 2,702 flights, bringing in 37,000 prospective buyers.

McCulloch’s diverse interests continued into the last years of his life. In 1971, the same year the London Bridge officially opened, he built his first aircraft in Lake Havasu City. It was the J-2 Gyroplane, a hybrid combination of helicopter and airplane, and was tested by NASA pilot James Patton, in the summer of 1973. His dream was to offer “an airplane in every garage”, promoting a seemingly simple aircraft that was easy to fly and could take off from a driveway. Although he manufactured about 200 of the aircraft, the market never materialized.